Viewing entries tagged
repentance
The Bible often speaks in terms of nations: national sin, national judgment, and national blessing. This, however, might be hard for many of us to think about or relate to in our modern, individualistic Western world. In this sermon, we explore Nahum's prophecy regarding the fall of ancient Assyria and encounter timeless biblical principles about how God interacts with nations as nations.
Nahum 1:1-15
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
Jesus calls us to forgive, but we struggle to do so. A key insight in Joseph’s life helped him forgive and even love people who had mistreated him terribly.
Genesis 45:1-15
Judah vowed to do better with Benjamin than he did with Joseph. But when it comes right down to it, will he follow through? We make a lot of resolutions and impressive-sounding commitments, but how do we make good on them when we’re tempted to pass?
Genesis 44:1-17
We love to enjoy the present and look forward to the future, but it’s hard to move forward without dealing with our past. This message looks at how God surfaces issues in our past to help us break free from them their hold on us.
Genesis 42
Nobody likes to argue but sometimes it feels unavoidable. Just trying no to get angry doesn’t seem to work. This message looks at some practical steps you can take to engage God and reorient yourself to the situation in a way that releases your anger and helps diffuse the conflict.
James 4:1-12
Most people assume that they’ve got things pretty much figured out. When they begin to learn about God, they figure with a few tweaks they’ll be good to go. Jesus explained why far more drastic adjustments are often needed. This message looks at when those changes are needed and the joy that can motivate them when they are.
On one hand, we complain when people do terrible things and God ‘doesn’t do anything about it.’ On the other hand, we struggle with the idea of a God who judges the world. The vision of the 7 bowls helps makes sense of God’s judgment and how we should live in light of it.
Hundreds of years of tradition have confused baptism’s meaning so much that it can feel foreign when we actually see how the Bible presents it. This message looks at how people responded to John’s baptism and what it can reveal about our own response to God’s invitation in our lives.
The good news message about Jesus stresses faith so much that people can think that God sends people to heaven as long as they’re not atheists. As a result, you have mobsters who pray before they commit murder and people whose lives seem to completely contradict what they say they believe. This message looks at how James clarifies saving faith in contrast to dead faith and the faith of demons. In the process, we learn how to evaluate our own faith and find assurance that we don’t cling to a false hope.
So much of our lives can be traced back to a hunger for acceptance. We devote ourselves to people and causes to show that we’re worthy of acceptance. And we fixate on things that we’ve said or done that might threaten our acceptance. But how does God see us? How can we know if God will accept us? What standard does He use? This message looks at one of Jesus’ famous stories about a Pharisee and a tax collector and considers what it teaches us about our yearning for acceptance and the grace God offers us.
Our prayers often resemble shopping lists of things we want from a divine vending machine in the sky. And our relationship with God and His working in our lives are stunted when they do. This message looks at Solomon’s prayer when he dedicated the temple and how it should shape our own prayers today.
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.
Money is a subject that almost no one likes to discuss. And prosperity teachers have spread greed in the name of God’s Word and compromised the church’s integrity in this area. But the Bible teaches on this topic extensively and it’s a significant part of how we relate to God. This message looks at God’s teaching on giving and His invitation to those who would taste His generosity.
