When Jesus told his disciples to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), He was not calling them to recruit members or enter people into a program. Rather, He wanted them to create more disciples! Being a disciple means dedicating one’s life to taking on the teachings and qualities of their mentor and learning from them.
At the end of Acts 2 & 4 we see such a great picture of what Community looks like. When we turn on the TV to watch the Super Bowl, we might also see what Community looks like. In the days of the book of Acts, community was everything. Today we have diluted down Community
Living for Jesus in this day and age is not as easy as we may sometimes think. As the pressure and heat is turned up in the world, representing Him is more important than ever. However, we may struggle with thoughts and false beliefs that we are not qualified or good enough to represent Jesus.
Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 6:18). How, exactly, will He do this? Through those willing to “go” (Matt 28:19)! But, go where? How and why? We see from scripture how Jesus patterned the answers to these questions and how they support the
Isaiah 43:19 (ESV) “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” The kingdom value of God’s Word and how it empowers us as the Priesthood of Believers. All of us have an opportunity to
If we believe what Jesus said to Peter (as it relates to the church), Matthew 16:18 (ESV) 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Then surely, it is up to us (as those within God’s Church) to figure out how
Often when we think of Worship, we tend to think of music, bands, singing, and all the feelings they elicit in us; however, what is clear throughout scripture is that more than just song, melody, and feeling, our lives are to be lived in a consistent place of worship, because not only is HE (Jesus) worthy,
We are in-between series, so we will be covering another Kingdom Value which are values that we as a church and believers can hold onto and live by. That said, the value we will be covering is something that affects all of us – Change. The thing about change is that it can happen in an instant, the key, however, is how
The fact is, whether we want to admit it or not, money is a key issue when it comes to growing in God. We know this because Jesus spoke more about money than He did about marriage, heaven or hell. In fact, over 60% of what Jesus taught was about our attitude towards finances and stewardship. He taught us
The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks a critical question of all of us today i.e., “What is the chief end of man?”. The answer – “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” You see, in contrast to the monastic division of life into sacred versus secular (perpetuated by the Roman Church), the reformers saw that
For centuries people have been trying to “reach” God through religious systems, works, priests, or charismatic leaders. The fact, however, is, there is no person, government, or system that can (nor should) ever take the place of the Savior of the World.
This Sunday we looked at Sola Fide, Faith Alone. We looked at three areas of faith: The Christian life is a life of faith, secondly, while faith is important, works are a part of God’s plan, and finally, our faith can and should increase.
On Oct 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his history-making 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg cathedral cementing a stake in the ground for the authority of God’s word and the power of the gospel of grace! In 1772, a former slave trader named John Newton penned the words of the most famous
Luther’s (and scripture’s) claim is that every person should read the Bible for themselves and that only the Scripture itself is inspired. And while issues of authority, inerrancy, clarity, and sufficiency of Scripture were under the microscope in Luther’s day, the sad truth is, these issues are being challenged today too. In fact, when we consider the “authority
We have started a “Series Within A Series” as we prepare to celebrate Reformation Month. We started off this series by looking back at what the Reformation was & why it was needed in the first place and then compare that reality with the state that the church currently finds itself in today. All of which, will prepare us to ask ourselves the question, “Is it perhaps time,
Often, when we look at the crazy times that we are currently living in, we have the tendency to think that our issues of today are so rare & unique (to us) that no one else in history would be able to understand what we are going through. However, when we unpack scripture, we come to realize that perhaps
Last Sunday we looked at the value of Community or put another way, the “local” view of The Church. This week we expanded our view of “Community” by unpacking the value of the “The Church” (the global one). In particular…What is the doctrine of “The Church”? Why do we need “The Church”? What is the role of
We returned to a series that we have touched on before (and will continue to return to as we grow and mature as a church) – Kingdom Values. These are values that are critical to us in order to maintain a Kingdom Heart in the midst of a crooked generation. The Kingdom Value of “Community” is the first value we started with and