217church - Audio

The book of Proverbs has much to say about how we handle our bodies. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and the gateway to our body is our mind. Our role as Christ followers is to guard our physical being and empower the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our decisions regarding our purity.

The book of Proverbs has much to say about our handling of finances, but the one overarching principle is everything is given from God. We do not really own our possessions. In order to be content, we must eliminate distractions and dysfunction regarding our finances.

Wisdom is the greatest asset to us in our lives. Solomon was the King and needed wisdom. We learn that Solomon attained wisdom through spending time with God, Having the right motivation, maintaining childlike faith, and exhibiting a servant’s heart.

Someone is calling all of us to be a part of a movement that redeems the broken, changes the trajectory of history, brings significance to insignificant things, and gives a purpose to change history. Jesus came to earth to live a life of redemption to show us how to do it, die a death for the redemption of our sins, and rose from the dead to redeem life. Jesus then ascended on high and has called us into His mission. Acts 1

In Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus he reminds them of the powerful truth that we as Christ followers are alive in Christ! Because of Jesus we have experienced freedom. So what are we doing with it? Jesus sends us out into the world with a purpose. Now that we are alive in Him we have passion, purpose and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to respond to Him in faith so that we can do the things He is calling us to do for His Glory!

How do we worship God in the midst of suffering? There is so much we can learn in the season of suffering. God is perhaps more at work in our hearts during seasons of suffering than even in seasons of joy. This weekend we will look to the Word of God on how to embrace the season we are in to reap the harvest of where we are going.The storm is coming... lets embrace it!

How do we worship God when we our in the midst of our fear? In the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah we see Jeremiah’s commissiong as the next prophet of God. Jeremiah’s initial reaction is one of fear and a lack of confidence, but God gives him the promise that he does not need to be afraid, and that he will never be alone. In Jeremiah’s interaction with God, we see how God is understanding of our fear, ready to give us all that we need to endure, and waiting for us to step out in faith and trust Him.

Jesus very clearly teaches us how to pray. But before He gives us the example of how to pray, He first tells us we need to find a place of prayer. There is no place more significant than the place of prayer! In the place of prayer there is freedom, glory, provision, healing, and victory! Have you found the place of prayer in your life?

There is a huge difference between the plans we make for ourselves, and the plans God has for us. So how do we get to a place where we are glorifying God with all of our lives? In scripture, we see Jesus come face to face with this challenge as He faces iminent death on the cross. He prays His most desperate prayer and then goes for it! When it comes to the way we live our lives as Christ followers, God wants us to give Him our all or nothing.

The vision of 217church is to reach 10,000 people over these next 10 years. Nehemiah’s vision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem seemed insurmountable. When we find ourselves in the “not yet” waiting for the vision to happen, we must pray continually, plan diligently, prepare our heart and persevere through disappointment.

Jesus breathed his last breath and died on the cross accomplishing the redemption of all mankind. If we are going to realize the thrill of victory in our lives we must recognize Jesus fulfilled scripture, He paid our penalty, conquered sin and death and defeated the enemy.

Since launching our Next Gen vision last November, we have seen God do some amazing things! This week we will recap all of the things we have seen him do in these 6 short months. God is sending all of us out into this world to be agents of change, messengers of the gospel, and legacy leavers. Come and be a part of what God is doing specifically in the next generation of Christ followers at 217church!

After Moses dies, Joshua is appointed by God as the new leader of the nation of Israel. In His first interaction with Joshua, God instills courage in him and reminds Him of his promises and his great plan for him.

Jesus tells the disciples his plan for their future and his claim of oneness with the Father in heaven. Jesus has a plan for us to be healthy, spiritually, physically and emotionally.

As the need to care for the people grew the disciples had to appoint more leaders to oversee different parts of the ministry. They appointed leaders who had a heart to unconditionally serve the people. We must see the need, sympathize with people’s pain and seize the opportunity to serve the people around us.

Paul gives young Timothy wisdom and instruction on living with integrity with his finances. We see throughout scripture four essential pieces of a budget that please God. God wants us to give, provide for our family, save for the future and live with no regrets.

Jesus tells the story of someone who thinks he is well prepared for his future and his secure in his finances, but he neglects the most important thing, The health of his own soul. To have a healthy soul we must be intentional givers. We all find ourselves at one of five stages: We have never made a gift, are an occasional giver, a proportionate giver, a tither, or an extravagant giver.

Jesus is calling us to believe boldly for healing in our lives. He encourages us over and over again to ask for anything. Jesus wants to heal us from, physical, emotional, family, and financial wounds. As Jesus approached Jerusalem, he passes by a man an heals him. Through prayer, Jesus wants to develop our character, increase our confidence and give us clarity.

As Jesus continues in his ministry, he tells his followers that they are not to use their faith as a just a way of thinking, but a way of living! Jesus tells us if we love Him to do what he says. This means serving people, learning his ways, inviting people into the mission and caring for people.

As Jesus begins his ministry after his baptism, He immediately begins his mission of discipling people. He calls out regular ordinary men to follow Him. As they left their professions, little did they know, because of their faith their lives would later be demanded of them. In order to follow Jesus we need to depend on him for resurrection power, an invitational lifestyle, a strong theology and a killer instinct.