217church - Audio

Paul begins his letter to the Roman church and with passion He makes known his whole life will be spent for the Gospel of Jesus. If we are to be unstoppable as the church we must know the Gospel is promised, a person, grace and for the whole world.

As Jesus speaks to his disciples and is preparing to go to the cross, he drives home the need to serve relentlessly as a Christ follower this is our value as a church. We are to contain our pride, consider others first and compassionately act.

We trust the Bible as the source of all truth and will share the Gospel in contextually relevant, creative ways so people may fully follow Jesus.

The generation that is raising up behind us must be empowered to thrive. We are to value them, train them and then send them.

When Jesus called the woman at the well to be transformed, she put her faith in Jesus and became a worshiper of God through living the mission of God. Our role is to make Jesus famous in our life through mystery, freedom and empowerment.

Does my heart ache for the world around me? A question that is asked when dealing with global missions, and for some of us its yes, for others no, and for many I’m not sure. When looking at scripture it’s clear that God doesn’t look at race, color, country he sees all as one and loves each the same. God’s heart aches for the world - but what about me. It begins with an understanding of God’s heart, then processing the knowledge to our own heart and asking what do I feel, is it the same and if not why. Once we know God’s heart, we understand our heart then we can take action, taking our focus off ourselves and putting it on those around us both locally and globally.

When Jonah finds himself under the grace of God, his life spared after being protected in the fish, He says YES to God. We remain hopeful in our God because God gives second chances, has a great work for us, and is about to surprise us.

The Story of Jonah is all about Jonah running from God to pursue his version of the good life. Our version of the good life is typically not God’s version. When we pursue our own version like Jonah did God will get our attention through a storm and getting swallowed by a whale like Jonah. Jonah found that he can only get the good life by following God’s plan for his life. We can only get the good life through Jesus.

On Father’s Day we look at how the Apostle Paul shows us what it means to be a man. Being a man is one that is not insecure, knows their identity in Christ, lives as a warrior servant, and finds their strength in weakness so Christ can be strong. Paul boasts in some things that we wouldn’t naturally boast in, his weaknesses. It is in these weakness that we see how to live as a warrior servant sent with the Gospel as a servant of Christ’s Kingdom with His family.

In every season there's a lesson to be learned. Paul writes about his experiences in prison while writing to the church in Philippi. Straining towards the goal that was set before him, to further the gospel. What lessons does that teach us on how we approach life?

When Abraham received the call to follow God to a new land, little did he know how He would be sifted as one who follows God. Sanctification and holiness happens over a lifetime through many experiences. God will sift us in our discipleship through wrong choices, major change, delayed promise, impossible problems and senseless tragedy.

Gluttony leads to excess, disease and dysfunction.  Everything must be done in moderation.  Three works to live a life of moderation are pause, measure and enjoy.

God has a unique role for women in His kingdom and one role is showing uncommon mercy. The apostles perform miracles through the power of God showing uncommon mercy. This enhances credibility, empowers relationship and releases power.

Jesus, in his sermon on the mount addresses the sin of anger and the dangers of a lack of self control. If we are to overcome anger we must be led by the Spirit of God to conviction of our sin, confession of our sin, and control of our sin.

Jesus tells a man who approaches him the secret to being rich but the man can’t put his faith and trust in Jesus. We must let go of what we have now in order to lean into what He promises later.

Week 2 of our Caution Tape series, we talk about Sloth, and what scripture says about how to be diligent in our work. God created work for it to be good for man, but after the fall, work became hard. In Thessalonians, Paul writes to the church to warn against idleness, to be ready and diligent in our work, for it is all for the glory of God.

When Jesus’ disciples ask him how to be great in the kingdom of heaven, he gives them a startling response for them to be humble and become like little children. We must be willing to put God first, others second and ourselves third in humility. When we live for Jesus in humility he gets the credit.

Jesus is risen from the dead! In Luke’s account of the resurrection. We see the amazing truth of the resurrection and the reaction of several different people. Peter realizes he is forgiven and everything Jesus said was absolutely true. Because of the love of Christ and resurrection power we are to leave sin, embrace life, and embody love.

We just celebrated our sixth anniversary as a church! For Nehemiah and the people, the wall is complete! In just fifty-two short days the people complete the wall and Nehemiah realizes the incredible power of a God given vision. Although the attacks will still come, we must remember we are chosen, crafted and privileged as God’s sons and daughters