Gracelife Sarasota

Have you ever hated your job, felt it wasn’t appreciated like you deserved a better job than the one you have? Maybe your work makes you feel unappreciated, underpaid, or that somehow the job you have is beneath you. I think that comes from how the world has determined there are “important” jobs, and then “ordinary” jobs. We fail to see the importance of our work in the “everyday grind”, feeling like it's meaningless in the big picture. What if your ordinary, even annoying work is making important contributions to the Kingdom of God you cannot see? Today, we’ll discover how every day, ordinary work holds more power in God’s Kingdom than you’ve ever imagined.

Have you ever felt the need to go back somewhere, but dreaded what you might face when you arrive? Maybe you wonder how much you've changed, or if anyone will even notice. It’s been a long time, and coming home isn’t easy, especially when the choice to leave was your own. Will people see your return as a sign of failure? Will you feel like a stranger in the place you once belonged? The fear of being seen as we really are, broken, bitter, far from perfect—can keep us from taking those first steps back. But what if the very place we’re avoiding is where God’s healing begins? What if the awkwardness, vulnerability & discomfort, is the 1st step to restoration & grace? My experience? God’s power meets ordinary people when they take that journey back to community with His people. So, what’s keeping you from coming home? Regret? Fear? Bitterness? Whatever it is, know that God is already at work—even if it feels uncomfortable. But to experience His healing, you&

Do you ever wonder if your life carries any real weight? If you died tomorrow, what would your legacy be? Do you wrestle with guilt, feeling like you’re falling short? Or like you’re ordinary and insignificant? Maybe you doubt your impact in God’s Kingdom or feel like you’ve disappointed Him, or your life is too small to matter. These feelings can make us resent the mundane, feeling stuck in the routine and even resenting the simplicity of our days. But, what if those monotonous moments are divinely designed, and intended to be pivotal to God’s sovereign plan? What if you learned that your everyday faithfulness & obedience have a ripple effect beyond your imagination, impacting lives you’ll never see, and shaping eternal destinies? Even when you can’t see it, could God be weaving something extraordinary through your very ordinary life! We’re going to learn today that our Sovereign God delights in using simple, faithful obedience to accomplish His plan to

Life has a way of hitting hard. It has a way of creating defining moments that force decisions we don’t want to make. I am not talking about easy choices, like the one I make almost every day… do I swirl my froyo flavors or not? I am talking about inflection points when circumstances put you at a crossroads between faith and doubt. When things fall apart, where do you turn? Do you rely on your own strength, or do you take that step of faith? And you know, it sounds so simple, right? Just have faith! Just trust that God is in control! So easy right? But faith isn’t easy. It’s not a safety net or backup plan. It’s hard to trust God’s promises when everything says don’t. It’s messy, it’s gritty and sometimes makes no sense. But that’s where faith is required! In the crazy and the hard. These are the moments where you realize your strength was never the point. This is where the shift happens. When life hits hard, the question isn’t just

In the last several weeks different people in our church have lost everything in one of 3 different storms. Do you remember what life was like before Hurricane Debbie wrecked so many lives a couple of months ago? What about those among us who lost everything during Hurricane Helene. That experience was life-changing for you. Do you remember the anxiety earlier this week as we watched weather reports, warning us about Hurricane Milton? How do you feel now that the storm has passed, and we see all this wreckage all around? Have you enjoyed the long gas lines? I have seen some fights. The Davis’ are still without power, so no bragging, please! Is it possible to find gratitude in the aftermath of a disaster? When we’re tempted to ask, ‘Why me?’—is there a deeper question we should be asking instead? Can we still be thankful, even when the world feels shattered? Even though life has been disrupted, and things are not “normal”, what can we have gratitude for this mor

You know our country is deeply polarized, & everyone on all sides, including you, has an opinion about who’s to blame. Could one of the big reasons be the redeemed’ s disobedience, & lack of faith that God is in control? How does it affect our community when the redeemed lack trust & confidence that God is sovereign & in control? -Instead of being the light of the world, we often become just another angry voice in the chaos. Instead of proclaiming redemption, mercy, love & grace we complain, quarrel, & look for hope in other things. We begin to place our hope in economics, politics, culture wars, etc. to fix what only our Unseen King can fix. What if God’s plan is for us to rise above the chaos? Will we trust Him or continue fighting for control? What might be the effect, the impact on our community, when the redeemed fully trust our Unseen King? This is a powerful lesson our church needs to take away from our series on Esther.

Have you ever noticed how easily we remember the traumatizing events in our lives, big and small? We never forget! We all have trauma, even those of us who think we don’t, are impacted by it in daily life more than you realize. They’re called core memories that cling to us, spring up without warning, they frame how we see life. These memories can breed bitterness, strain relationships, & foster a mindset of victimhood & entitlement. Have you experienced how easily these memories distract you from following Jesus or remembering the Word of God? It can almost seem like trauma is specifically designed to keep us from remembering mercy and redemption! But when it comes to remembering what God has done for us, it seems that requires more effort & discipline. We must have frequent, regular remembrance of the powerful moments God has displayed His sovereign grace to us. Remembering His goodness a vital part of both our obedience & our transformation.

It was the summer of 1991 at the outdoor basketball courts at USF. Pastor Joe, 23 years old, was playing pickup with college players while a crowd watched from the bleachers. It was like that Ski-Lo song, “I wish I was a little bit taller…”—everyone came to see their guy dominate the game. This may surprise you, but I was by far the shortest and slowest person on the court. It wasn’t even close. The game was at a critical point—game point, in fact. My team had the ball, and our point guard, under heavy pressure, was forced to pass it to me. I could see the sadness in his eyes. A 6'9" guy, who I'd even seen play on TV, rushed out to guard me. I panicked, thinking he was going to run me over. So, in desperation, I just heaved the ball into the air. We collided, and I went sprawling to the ground. Then I heard a massive roar from the crowd. Someone even yelled, "WHITE BOY!" To my shock, my blind 30-foot bank shot had gone in. My teammates ran over, picked me up, and we c

Isn’t it fun to be the one announcing good news? To see the thrill in someone’s face because of news you shared? When was the last time you had the privilege of sharing amazing news with someone who wasn’t expecting it? How did you feel when you saw their joy, the relief, the spark of hope in someone’s eyes as they received it? Good news can be so powerful! It can lift burdens, renew hope, even change someone’s life, even save their life! Can you imagine a scenario of having good news for someone but choosing, for whatever reason, to keep it to yourself? Wouldn’t that be kind of sick, even evil? Chapter 8 is the moment of the grand resolution of the whole Esther story. It serves as a powerful reminder of what we should do with the keys to deliverance and the message of greater hope we’ve been given.

Have you ever looked at the world around you and wondered, why does evil seem to be winning? Hypocrisy, injustice, corruption, doesn’t it seem like darkness is constantly gaining ground & closing in around us? We’re confronted daily w/what seems like the wicked prospering while the righteous suffer. There’s a psalm for that: (Psalm 73:3,12-14) For I was envious of the prosperity of the proud and wicked...look at these men of arrogance; they never have to lift a finger - theirs is a life of ease; and all the time their riches multiply. Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure? All I get out of it is trouble and woe - every day and all day long?"

Don’t you love it when your plans or strategies come together? Especially when the outcome is super important? It's very rewarding! You feel intelligent, in control, powerful! It confirms your high opinion of your wisdom & foresight! Even our selfish, ambitious, lustful, unrighteous plans that hurt others provide this intoxicating illusion of control. While it’s good to strategize and plan, we must remember that control is often an illusion. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, our plans fail—sometimes spectacularly. And when they do, that feeling of being in control can be replaced with humiliation, helplessness, powerlessness, and sometimes even fear. Imagine the devastating humiliation when plans you were so confident in fail so badly, they cost you everything. The humiliation of plans gone wrong is something many will face on the Day of the Lord. Esther 6 gives us a powerful lesson about the peril of placing our trust in human plans, especially plans that are inspired primarily by

"Reverence & awe for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. For by me, your days will be multiplied, and years added to your life." - Proverbs 9:10-11 Do you know people who seem prone to making unwise choices? Have you ever felt like you might be one of them? Why do people make the same silly mistakes repeatedly? While others seem to be able to learn from their mistakes? This kind of wisdom, or lack of it, reveals a deeper issue, a lack of trust in God’s sovereign plan, so we take over. What about people who seem to consistently display wisdom to make courageous, faithful, obedient choices. Why do some people possess heavenly wisdom while another seems trapped in foolishness? The kind of wisdom you consistently display has little to do with intelligence, talent, or resources. Instead, it reveals how much you trust in God’s sovereign power & plan, perhaps more than you’re willing to admit. Esther 5 presents a powerful contrast between these two

Have you ever been so distraught, anxious, distressed and distracted you couldn’t eat or sleep? Maybe you were worried about your bills or you lost your job, or a huge costly catastrophe that came upon you. Maybe it was a legal decision from the judge, a medical diagnosis from your doctor, or other potential, looming bad news. Maybe it was just immense grief and sorrow over losing someone you love, a spouse, or a parent, or a child. All of us have faced devastating events in our lives, leaving us feeling helpless, that exposed our frailty or vulnerability. But these heavy moments provide the most stark of contrasts between the faithful & rest of the world. Without eternal hope, life is pretty much about grabbing what you can, and enjoying peaceful moments between bad news. But for followers of Jesus, these moments present an opportunity for our greatest expressions of worship to God.

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as it's own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - John 15:18-19 Have you noticed the world seems to hate Christianity? Does this hostility towards Christianity frustrate you? Are you easily discouraged, or enraged when culture or government seems to conflict with the Kingdom of God? No matter the political persuasion, there are American Christians who are confused, perplexed & angry at society. As a pastor, I observe an American church infected with a destructive, spiritual pandemic of anxiety, fear, and even anger. Christians on both political sides are anxious, even angry at the prospect of who might be president in 6 months. Outraged or confused by SCOTUS decisions ranging from gay marriage on one side, to overturning Roe v. Wade on the other. We get worked up in culture wars, like the reenactment of Da Vinci’

Do you know what these are? Call it what it is. Ugly. Just look at them! This “art” is at best “questionable!” Everything is out of proportion. They are stick figures. Coloring outside the lines. Some don’t even resemble anything! But someone somewhere thought they were precious enough to take a picture and put it on the world wide web! These are obviously posted by people who love the kids who made this refrigerator art. To them these are beautiful. They love them, cherish them, and put them up for everyone in the house to see! To anyone else, these are worthless. Now before you say, “Pastor Joe that is mean!”, how long would you keep it up on your fridge if you didn’t love the kid? The story we will look at today in Esther is like this analogy of a parent loving ugly refrigerator art. We’ll learn that we can be grateful for how God used Esther & Mordecai without ignoring their terrible choices.

Do you know what these are? Call it what it is. Ugly. Just look at them! This “art” is at best “questionable!” Everything is out of proportion. They are stick figures. Coloring outside the lines. Some don’t even resemble anything! But someone somewhere thought they were precious enough to take a picture and put it on the world wide web! These are obviously posted by people who love the kids who made this refrigerator art. To them these are beautiful. They love them, cherish them, and put them up for everyone in the house to see! To anyone else, these are worthless. Now before you say, “Pastor Joe that is mean!”, how long would you keep it up on your fridge if you didn’t love the kid? The story we will look at today in Esther is like this analogy of a parent loving ugly refrigerator art. We’ll learn that we can be grateful for how God used Esther & Mordecai without ignoring their terrible choices.

(DEUTERONOMY 27:4-8) When you’ve crossed over the Jordan, use these stones & some plaster to build an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord your God. Don’t use tools, build it with your hands! You shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, make peace offerings, & have a feast there. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write on the stones all the words of the Law.

God often uses our desperation to showcase his glory & power.

"All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." - Matthew 5:37

What kind of church would GraceLife be if everyone was like Ganon or Chris? Stunning, good-looking, great personality? Would our church be bigger, and more appealing? Would more people be drawn to Mt Lockwood Ridge? Listen, people like Chris, Gannon & myself, we are so tired of carrying that burden of being who everyone loves. Obviously, joking about Chris, But seriously, have you ever thought about how diverse & creatively God has made us all? There isn’t another person in our church close to a Raz, or Curley. There’s only one Jen, Brent, or Bob Cluckey. There’s nobody like Todd, Cean, or Jackie. No two GraceLifers are alike at all! Yet we are united under one Gospel. We need each of them, each of you, with every quirk, oddity, peculiarity, and diversity, to be what makes GraceLife so special. God’s creativity in our church is critical. We can’t accomplish His plans on Mt. Lockwood Ridge without each one.