Viewing entries tagged
grace
Sometimes, it can feel as if we’ve messed up too much to share in the hope Christmas brings. This message looks at Manasseh’s story and shows how God’s love can reach us when it feels like we’re beyond hope.
2 Chronicles 33:1-13
“You reap what you sow” seems so self-evident that it’s hard to deny. But when tragedy strikes, it becomes a cruel slogan. This message looks at the bad advice that added to Job’s misery and how we can discern the voices that can add to ours when we’re grieving.
Job 5:1-16
When we lose sight of the gospel, doubts and insecurities can keep us from living the life we were called to. This message looks at how Paul coached Timothy in the gospel and gave him courage to face his challenges.
1 Timothy 1:12-20
We grow in the life of faith by trusting and responding to what God has said. When churches talk more about what people say than what God has said, Christians drift into error. This message looks at how to hold onto truth when the world turns away from it.
1 Timothy 1:1-11
“Judge not, and you will not be judged” is our generation’s favourite verse. But what does it really mean? This message looks at how the grace of God can help us to be less judgmental.
Luke 6:37-42
Jesus is more famous for His teachings on love than Christians are for showing it. This message takes a practical look at Jesus’ command to love our enemies and considers the difficulties and blessings in applying it and the help that God gives as we do.
Luke 6:27-36
Peter’s transformation from bystander to follower provides a case study in how Jesus seeks to work in our lives.
Luke 5:1-11 // [outline]
Conflict hurts. Whether at work or in the home, arguments have a way of draining our energy and robbing our joy. The Book of James addresses conflict that the early church was having. They were fighting and arguing with each other. He addresses the root cause of conflict and shows how prayer can work to change us and our approach to the conflicts we face.
Christians often see the gospel as essential to becoming children of God but never connect how the gospel enables us to live the Christian life. We live motivated by guilt, duty, and pride as a result. This message looks at how God has given us the Lord’s Supper to centre our lives in the gospel and fuel the life to which He has called us.
For most of Solomon’s life, it seemed as if he could take steps of compromise without consequence. Eventually, however, his sins caught up with him and he tasted the bitter fruit of his choices. This message looks at the dimensions of God’s anger and how it should affect how we live.
People who are skilled in organization and administration are critical to the blessing and effectiveness of the church. But they’re often misunderstood and face unique temptations. This message looks at what we can learn by understanding Solomon’s skills as a leader and the blessings and inclinations that accompanied them.
People assume that Christianity is either a straitjacket of morality or a licence to sin. When they discover that it is neither, they can be confused as to what the believer’s motivation is in avoiding temptation. This message looks at how reckoning with our union with Christ declaws temptation’s hold on us.
Moral and spiritual failure often leaves us feeling like we’re in the doghouse. We can feel stuck and struggle to find a way forward. This message looks at how God meets us in those times and clears a path to our restoration.
We all face the pressure of powerful people in our lives; governments, bosses, and popular classmates, but how should we respond to the pressure? Jacob, in Genesis 33, provides us a helpful example, showing us that God’s people walk the path of humility, generosity, and obedience.
A belief in karma is popular today. You get what you deserve, they say. But in the Scriptures, we encounter a God who gives us more than we deserve and often we struggle in our response. This message looks at the grace of God and how we respond to it.
It’s easy to be weighed down by bad news and disappointment. We can complain about the bad stuff and be complacent about the good stuff. This psalm teaches us how to find our joy in God no matter what we’re facing.
The good news of the Bible is that, because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, all people of all backgrounds can freely receive His forgiveness through repentance and faith. But people can subtly add conditions to that free grace and turn it into something else. And the problem is that we’re tempted to do the same! This message looks at a man named Gehazi whose greed and prejudice risked corrupting the grace of God.
Most people don’t advertise their past unless there’s something remarkable about it. And if there are skeletons in the closet, we certainly don’t want them to get out. But Matthew begins his presentation of the Christmas story with a stunning family tree that deepens our understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to accomplish. This message examines how Jesus fulfills the promises to Abraham and David and has the grace to transform those whom the world would hide and exclude.
We live in a time where good news is rare. The timeless gospel message is good news. Christians sometimes forget how good the good news really is. How do we best share this good news in an age of spiritual barrenness? We’ll investigate an Old Testament story to learn pointers on how to extend a kind of love that “stoops.”
Most of us want to lead useful lives. We want to accomplish things. We want to bring light into darkness. If we have children, we want to nurture them in ways that will bless them. But there are things we can do to undermine our impact. This message looks at the mindsets that are critical to making the most of the influence God has given us.
