Gospel Life Sermons

Like the disciples, we easily misunderstand Jesus when our belief is shallow. When we assume the “good news” is about our immediate problems and our vision of the good life, we are going to be disappointed, confused.

However, a robust faith is led by the Spirit to see what God has done in Christ—the world is overcome and we have direct access to the Father—only then do we have peace and confidence in the middle of trouble, and that is truly good news.

We might be tempted to think that joy is found in the absence of sorrow, but Jesus tells us that true joy is found in His presence! Which means that we can have true joy, even while passing through some of life’s most sorrowful circumstances. As believers in Jesus, we have His Spirit alive in us and that is our guarantee of an eternity in His presence, where we will have infinite and indestructible joy!

When Jesus is just hours away from his death, He tells his disciples not to be afraid about what’s to come – the Helper is coming! In fact, in light of His ascension, we learn that the Holy Spirit has been sent to convict us through the message of the gospel and comforts us through the man of the gospel – Jesus Christ!

When people say ‘church’ many different things tend to come to mind. For some, church brings up images of stained glass, potlucks, and pews while others might view the church as religious, irrelevant or detached. Additionally, many of us that go to church tend to define our perspective through the lens of our experiences and we rarely consider God’s design for the church and our role within it. With that, we invite you to discover an incredible truth with us: God designed the church to be all about Jesus. Jesus leading it, Jesus over it, and Jesus through each and every part of it. Join us as we celebrate God’s design for the local church and learn how membership, the roles of both deacon and elder, and our mission all celebrate God’s good plan to celebrate His Son through His church!

When people say ‘church’ many different things tend to come to mind. For some, church brings up images of stained glass, potlucks, and pews while others might view the church as religious, irrelevant or detached. Additionally, many of us that go to church tend to define our perspective through the lens of our experiences and we rarely consider God’s design for the church and our role within it. With that, we invite you to discover an incredible truth with us: God designed the church to be all about Jesus. Jesus leading it, Jesus over it, and Jesus through each and every part of it. Join us as we celebrate God’s design for the local church and learn how membership, the roles of both deacon and elder, and our mission all celebrate God’s good plan to celebrate His Son through His church!

When people say ‘church’ many different things tend to come to mind. For some, church brings up images of stained glass, potlucks, and pews while others might view the church as religious, irrelevant or detached. Additionally, many of us that go to church tend to define our perspective through the lens of our experiences and we rarely consider God’s design for the church and our role within it. With that, we invite you to discover an incredible truth with us: God designed the church to be all about Jesus. Jesus leading it, Jesus over it, and Jesus through each and every part of it. Join us as we celebrate God’s design for the local church and learn how membership, the roles of both deacon and elder, and our mission all celebrate God’s good plan to celebrate His Son through His church!

When people say ‘church’ many different things tend to come to mind. For some, church brings up images of stained glass, potlucks, and pews while others might view the church as religious, irrelevant or detached. Additionally, many of us that go to church tend to define our perspective through the lens of our experiences and we rarely consider God’s design for the church and our role within it. With that, we invite you to discover an incredible truth with us: God designed the church to be all about Jesus. Jesus leading it, Jesus over it, and Jesus through each and every part of it. Join us as we celebrate God’s design for the local church and learn how membership, the roles of both deacon and elder, and our mission all celebrate God’s good plan to celebrate His Son through His church!

Jesus spends quite a bit of time inviting his disciples to abide in John 15:1-17 and then, in the following passage, we learn why: a storm of persecution is coming. Jesus wants his followers to know that they’ll be excluded, hated, and even abused for knowing Him but He also wants us to know that the story will never end with persecution. Through persecution, we can know Jesus more and make him known through it!

Friends of God! What an amazing truth for those who are in Christ Jesus. Even though Jesus is only hours away from being arrested, beaten and crucified; His focus is still on loving His disciples. He is giving them the pathway to fullness of joy…and it is to ABIDE in Him and love one another the way that He loves them! By this the Father is glorified!

In the Old Testament, Israel is portrayed as a fruitless vine, a metaphor that Jesus changes by Himself becoming the Vine. As the ultimate source of life, Jesus ensures that those connected to Him will bear fruit. This fruit manifests as love, joy, and a profound understanding of and submission to the Father, permeating all aspects of life from relationships to emotions. Fruitfulness originates from the Vine, not from our own efforts, leading us to acknowledge autonomy as the heart of sin. We must be cautious against admiring independence, as it signifies disconnection from Christ. Jesus admonishes us that while God nurtures those who bear fruit, those who are disconnected from Christ are fruitless and face severe consequences. We were made for dependence on Christ, recognizing His strength as the sole source of fruitfulness.

The word ‘love’ is used in our culture to describe our attitude toward a wide variety of things. We love our family, we love a spouse, we love food, we love sports, we love traveling, and we certainly love our pets. With so many loves, it’s no wonder that we have a difficult time understanding what Jesus means when he invites us to ‘abide in his love’. Join us as we read John 15:9-13 to learn what real love is and discover what it means to abide in the perfect love of Jesus Christ.

True life, love, and joy stem from The True Vine, Christ Jesus. Though Christ and His Spirit, God intends to bear fruit in the hearts and lives of His believers.

John 15 is a call and a command to stop living life in our own strength.

Jesus knows that apart from Him we can do nothing, so He is helping His disciples by telling them, to abide in Him! If they do and if His Word is abiding in them, then they can ask whatever they wish and it will be done for them. Jesus is telling us how we can bear much fruit, have fullness of joy and live for the glory of God…it all comes by ABIDING in Him!

Is the Holy Spirit a feeling, a force, a ghost, or a genie? There are many misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the Holy Spirit in our culture and if you’ve ever felt confused as to the ministry of the Holy Spirit you are not alone! Thankfully, Jesus clearly introduces us to the Holy Spirit in John 14:15-31 and we learn that the Spirit preserves our faith and protects our unity by teaching us, convicting us, and reminding us of Jesus.

If your road is different than what you expected, if it includes more difficulty and pain and loss and confusion than what you thought would be in store, take heart! Jesus tells us that the path ahead is the same as the path you first started on - it’s the path of faith where life is found! This passage invites us to place our faith in a specific Savior who promises to do very specific things and to know that when the road ahead looks rough, Jesus gives us a perspective, promise, purpose and path to get us through. 

In this passage Peter will ask 2 ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ that all believers have. Jesus, where are you going? Jesus, why can’t I follow you now? Jesus’ answers reveal our need to be obedient in our waiting to be with Him in heaven, and also to be rest assured that our salvation is sealed with Jesus even in the midst of our failures!

We are commanded to love one another the way that Jesus loved us. To love those inside the church with a selfless, sacrificial and forgiving type of love. We are told that the world will know that we are truly followers of Jesus if we do love one another. Praise God that where we fail, Christ succeeded on our behalf and that we remain in His love even when we fail and fall short of loving others!

Judas is cast as the ultimate villain in story of Jesus’ journey to the cross, but have you ever wondered what caused him to betray the Son of God? The gospel accounts invite us to examine Judas’ journey to this moment and as we do, we’ll discover that Judas’ path isn’t that different from our own. However, there is hope. Because Jesus Christ rose from the grave, the shame of our sin can be covered by the cross and reversed by the resurrection!

Many of us have heard about Jesus washing his disciple’s feet but this story can feel pretty removed from our context and leave us uncertain as to how we might apply this in our everyday lives. Thankfully, feet washing in John 13:1-20 is about so much more than the disciples getting a pedicure. Jesus washes his disciple’s feet as a picture of his love, a promise of his cross, and an invitation for how we might love one another as followers of Jesus on this side of the resurrection.

At Gospel Life, Biblical Soul Care exists to help people understand their sin and suffering Biblically by applying the good news of Jesus Christ to their lives by faith. We invite you to hear the vision for what Biblical Soul Care looks like for our church family and to discover the gospel motivation of 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 that makes this all possible through Jesus!

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

That light is the promised Son of God and He will shine His light into the darkness, as He becomes flesh and dwells among His people.

And He will defeat the darkness and bring eternal life, by dying for His people.

It’s the final curtain call on Jesus’ public ministry and from this point forward He will only speak with his disciples, his accusers, and His Father. As he retreats to walk the lonely road to the cross, John wants us to understand why Israel chosen to crucify rather than believe God’s Son and he wants us to see that our unbelief isn’t a problem with our eyes or our eyes. Instead, unbelief is always a problem of the heart. 

Jesus, The Light of the world, is on His way to the cross. He knows the weight of sin that He must carry and the wrath of God He must endure. Even though His soul is troubled, He longs to bring glory to His Father. The time to defeat darkness is now and it will take Him being lifted up on a cross and dying! The light shines into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Right after Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem, Jesus makes it crystal clear to His disciples that His glory will demand his death – and that the Father will use his death to bring the most glory to Christ and many into His kingdom. However, this passage also shows us that the road to the cross is required for each of us as well. If we love our life, we’ll lose it...but if we lose our life for Christ we get His Way, His Truth, and His Life forever. 

John 12 places us 6 days before the Passover Feast and it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Pharisees want to murder Jesus. Not only this, but we learn in the passage that Judas has decided to betray Jesus and hand him over to death. However, as the heat turns up on Jesus, John presents us with an alternative response: worship. In this story, we witness Mary treasure, adore, and anoint Jesus at great cost to herself. In this we’re invited to see that Jesus is a better treasure than any of our earthly pleasures.

God will accomplish all of His purposes and nothing or no one can ever stop His plans. Jesus is moving towards the last week of His earthly ministry and is in complete control of all that will happen to Him; for His glory and the good of His people. We see in these verses that God's purposes are always so much bigger and better than our plans.

The story of Lazarus invites us to join Mary and Martha on the pathway of mourning but it certainly doesn’t leave us there. In John 11:38-44, we learn that Jesus always keeps his promises when puts his power on display for all those that would believe! Jesus drives back death, reverses sin’s curse, and commands Lazarus to wake up and walk free in the power of the resurrection! Thankfully, this resurrection hasn’t just been given to Lazarus. Because of Jesus, we too are invited to wake up and walk free when we place our trust in Christ!

When we lose someone we love and are filled with grief and sorrow, sometimes we get angry with God and wonder why He did not heal our loved one. We usually believe that true love shows up for us in our greatest hour of need and helps us. Jesus shows us in this text, that true love (His love) does show up, but not always to sustain physical life. His main goal is to display His Glory, so that we might BELIEVE in Him and have ETERNAL LIFE.

Jesus saves His people through His Word and when we’ve saved we are safe, secure, and satisfied in Christ. However, Jesus invites those that haven’t believed His words to consider his works – to examine them, to understand them, and to see that they validate His claim to be the Savior of the World. Ultimately, life comes to those that receive Jesus’ words and believe Jesus’ works and we invite you to do both with us as we trust and follow Jesus.

The Good Shepherd provides everything His sheep need to flourish and follow Him. He gives them His presence, His peace, His protection, His provision and His promises. No matter how many times His sheep wander away, He always goes after them and brings them back home. His goodness and mercy chases them down all the days of their life. And because of His sacrifice for them on the cross, they will be with Him forever.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd that pursues, protects, and provides for His beloved sheep. He calls us, he goes before us, he takes us to good pasture, and he guards us from all spiritual harm. He even lays his own life down for us giving us forgiveness, freedom, and the promise of eternal abundant life through Him. At the end of the day, Jesus is our Good Shepherd and we’ve got nothing to fear when we know that He’s near.

In Jesus we have the ‘death of death’! From John 8:51 Jesus says, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.’ Even in the midst of those that want to see Jesus killed, He gives His followers a promise that they will literally remember forever! The life we have with Jesus today will never end!

True disciples are those who abide. 'Abiding in God's Word'...is trusting that truth and freedom are found nowhere else but in Jesus! So stay with Him-all your life!

John chapter 8 is a tale of two sinners: a woman caught in adultery and a group of pharisees who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus did not distance Himself from either-instead He brought conviction. The woman drew near to her savior and called Him Lord, while the pharisees continued in unbelief and wanted Him dead. Since Jesus is the light of the world, His conviction can bring life! As we turn from our sin and put our belief in Jesus we can walk in that light!

The wonderful story of Jesus interacting with the adulterous woman in John 8 is filled with controversy, confusion, and plenty of misunderstanding about what this story is even about. However, we consider where this fits in the storyline of scripture, we discover that this story reflects wonderful truths of the gospel to us that will comfort us, call us, and change us to live differently! 

After arriving in Jerusalem during the most important spiritual festival of the year, Jesus announces his mission as the Messiah and invites the crowd to find true spiritual life through belief in Him. However, instead of seeing the crowds believe, what John describes is a scene of division where everyone has developed their own opinion about who they believe Jesus to be. Some will dismiss him, others will accept an altered version of Him, while others will reject him entirely. As we read, we’re invited to consider the question: will you believe in Jesus?  

Like the people in Jerusalem, we often set our own expectations and we think we’ve considered of the best outcomes that will satiate our thirst for things to be made right. Jesus brings us better news. When we encounter good news of the Christ sent by YHWH, we (like the Jews) must set aside our expectations and be accepted into God’s plan to make all things new starting from within us. Our lives are not better because of Jesus, He is our life and he gifts us the Spirit as our daily source of life—like a well of water springing from within us. The alternative is to be forever thirsty.

On the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Celebrating God’s provision in the wilderness), Jesus alludes to His divinity; He comes from The Father and The Father sent Him. Centuries of prophecy and anticipation are about to be fulfilled.

As a people of Jesus, we celebrate the truth. Belief is knowing the truth of Jesus. Unbelief is not believing what He has said to be true.  

We confuse Bible knowledge with actual spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is submitting our will to the will of our Heavenly Father. Jesus did this perfectly for the glory of the Father and for our everlasting joy with the Father.

The disease of self-righteousness convinces us that we’re right, that everyone else is wrong, and that the world would be a much better place if everyone just listened to ‘me’. By God’s grace, our self-righteousness is always incompatible with the agenda, mission and righteousness of Jesus and this passage invites us to consider who we will choose to rule our lives - Jesus Christ or ourselves?

The local church is given the great honor and responsibility of sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. And so we go, stepping toward our neighbors, our communities, and the unreached to tell them what we've discovered ourselves: Jesus saves!

The church of the living God, is called to be a pillar, holding high and holding fast to the truth; declaring and displaying the beauty, splendor and glory of Jesus. Every time Jesus makes another disciple and every time another Christ-centered church is planted another foundation and pillar arises in that community! It’s a pillar of truth that shines His light into the darkness to display the character of our good and glorious God.

The Church is called to display the glory of God in the local community that God has placed them. It's everyday Christians living everyday lives in everyday places for the glory of God. We can live loved, embrace where God has us, fight our sin, and bless others because of Christ alive in us and when we fall, we can cling to the Savior that loves us and changes us for His glory.

Peter is making it crystal clear that to be Christian is to be part of the local church and the climax of this chapter are verses 9 and 10 and it’s here that Peter answers the question, “What is the church?” The church is NOT a building you go to. It’s NOT an organization you join. It’s NOT a service you attend or a charity you support and definitely NOT a social club or a place for political promotion. Instead the church the rescued and redeemed people of God who are chosen and called to be God’s Local Mission!

We recognize Jesus as Lord. We recognize Jesus as the preferred alternative, despite the difficulties. We recognize the value of material things, and it doesn’t compare with Jesus! We recognize Jesus as Messiah and God! Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!

In the doctrine of Sovereign Election, we see; The Father‘s plan to love us, The Son’s plan to rescue us and The Spirit’s Guarantee of God’s forever grace. Jesus makes it clear that we can only come to Him if the Father draws us to the Son. And Jesus will save all those who come to Him and never cast them out!

In this passage Jesus tells us about the bread of life, the only ting substantial enough to quiet our spiritual craving and satisfying enough to fill up our souls. He stands in front of a crowd and says in essence. The only way to live is to eat the bread of life. In doing so, Jesus makes the first of seven 'I AM' statements and claims that a rich and satisfying life can only be found in Him.

Moses was the greatest hero the Jewish people had ever known. Not only was he responsible for bringing them out of Egypt, but also governing them as a newly established nation and then representing God to them while delivering to them God's law for human flourishing. John 6 is a clear account that Jesus is the One whom Moses' life and ministry were pointing to.

The story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 might be familiar to us but this story isn’t about fish or loaves - this story is all about Jesus! John wants us to see here that Jesus is amazing...that He’s God, that He’s good, and that He provides like nobody has, can or ever will. 

We are much like the religious leaders that Jesus is addressing in this text.

We fail to love God and we seek the praise of man, instead of living for the glory of God.

Thanks be to Jesus, for Glorifying His Father perfectly, so that we could one day be with Him in Glory!

People of hope make great witnesses to the grace and glory of Jesus in a fallen and broken world full of people existing without real hope and the assurance of real and eternal life.

The resurrection of Jesus does not mean hope for all people. Hope is only for those who hear Jesus’ words and believe them by choosing to trust Him through faith and repentance.

The healing at the Pool of Bethesda is a celebration of Jesus’ compassion and a demonstration of Jesus’ power. Both His compassion and His power put His divinity on display for everyone to see and yet a group of religious rule-followers use this miracle to plot his murder. The question then must be asked: how will we respond to the compassion and power of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? 

Suffering has a unique way to bring us to Jesus, but the ultimate goal in life, is not the elimination of suffering, but instead the ultimate goal is Jesus. When we trust Jesus by clinging to His promises, we are then able to enjoy the power and presence of Jesus even while we suffering and as a result enjoy His rest!

Jesus is THE Savior of the World. Faith brings us to seek Him and His word draws us to know Him. Nothing is outside of His saving grace.

Evangelism is an intimidating thing for many believers and something we either misunderstand or avoid entirely. Jesus invites us to consider the joy of evangelism in his interaction with the woman at the well and we’re invited to look to Jesus, share Jesus, and be satisfied in Jesus as we tell the world about him! 

Today’s text follows Jesus offering living water to a woman at the well – but in doing so – Jesus first needs to expose her deepest issue that will keep her from receiving it – SHAME. Shame covers people and constantly says to people, “you didn’t just do wrong, BUT you are wrong.” And this is how shame becomes our identity and keeps us from receiving living water. When “I am wrong” becomes WHO I AM–hiding becomes my reality. So here Jesus uncovers shame in this woman her, so she can truly receive real life in His name!

We are all searching for satisfaction and we try to find it in hundreds of ways. Jesus offers all of us, who are weary from the sins we commit and the shame we carry, true and lasting satisfaction. He offers us Himself and if we have Him, then we have Life, that is full and eternal.

Our attitude toward the truth determines the outcome of our lives. If we don’t love the truth, if we resist it, we resist salvation. But if we do love the truth then we embrace salvation and we receive the reward: the crown of life.

So much of our anger, sadness, coldness, critical-spirit, and refusal to forgive arises because we’ve forgotten who we are and we’re expecting the world to treat us like we’re the groom, but it’s not our party, it’s not our story! JESUS is the groom! Jesus is the Hero! And John knew this and that’s the secret! John is content in life and full of joy because he’s accepted the reality that it’s not about JOHN – It’s ALL about Jesus and for Jesus! and this is the secret to his contentment and peace!

John 3:16 gives us the good news of what we can saved for but John 3:17-21 invites us to consider what we can be saved from. In this, the gospel doesn't just give us hope for eternal life-the gospel also gives us God's promise of salvation from the punishment and power of our sin!

John 3:16 is spoken by Jesus himself and is part of a “night-time” conversation that Jesus is having with a religious leader named Nicodemus. In an authentic dialogue with Jesus, Nicodemus (the main religious teacher in all of Israel during the time of Jesus) is having his whole perception of God and having relationship with Him flipped on its head. In short, Nicodemus is learning that salvation has been and will continue to be based upon God’s grace, his work and the work of man is to believe!

If the Gospel of John was written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Then it is very important that we understand WHAT believe means, HOW belief happens and WHO belief is given to. Jesus addresses these things in this passage and shows us that WE ARE BORN AGAIN and brought to BELIEF by grace and grace alone.

Jesus does not deal kindly with extra biblical requirements or religious obstacles to enjoying the relational realities of the New Covenant with God made possible through His life, death and resurrection.

Jesus delivers to us a NEW COVENANT by his perfect life lived, substitutionary life died, and bodily resurrection from the dead – all of this is a gift of grace, to be received by faith, that when received makes sinners supernaturally children of God.

Biblical Soul Care is the process of entering into a loving relationship with another person to help them understand their sin and suffering biblically and apply the good news of Jesus Christ to their lives by faith. We all need this type of care and every believer is called to extend this care one another. Join us as we learn what this looks like, why it matters, and what it means to be a church equipped to care for one another’s souls with the good news of Jesus!

The suffering of Jesus our Savior didn’t begin on the cross, it began at his birth and continued to all the way to his death, and it was all for our redemption and salvation. 

Darkness is everywhere and we get discouraged when we consider the sin, suffering and evil of this world. We need something to light up that darkness and it can’t be our Christmas lights, our cell phone lights, or our spotlights. We need the True Light, Jesus Christ, to come and at Christmas we remember that this Light has broken through the darkness! And if Jesus is the Light, you and I don’t need to live in darkness any longer. 

We chase empty things this time of year that leave us feeling disillusioned and without hope. This season, may we instead worship Jesus in His righteousness and be filled with joyful hope as eternal citizens of his Kingdom. He is our true north.   

What happens when we try to be our own little kings and queens and what happens when we place our hope in the rulers of this earth? We don’t have to look any further than the book of Isaiah to learn that brokenness, sorrow, and despair follow those that try to rule their own lives. However, there is hope! In the midst of their sin, God gives his people the promise of a Wonderful King, a Mighty King, an Everlasting King, and a King of Peace that will rescue them forever from their sin. The Christmas story declares that Jesus is that King and that God's people can surrender today and have hope for tomorrow because of the Kingship of Jesus Christ!

Jesus calls His first disciples. They are not who we would choose if the goal was to get your message to the whole world through them. But He shows His great and glorious grace, by choosing the weak and foolish things in this world to shame the strong and wise.

In children’s books, John the Baptist is usually portrayed as having long shaggy hair, a scuffled beard and he’s often seen eating a steady diet of wild honey and dried locusts. All this may be true, but God’s Word wants us to know that his appearance certainly wasn’t the most important thing about him. This passage shows us that John the Baptist was the last prophet pointing to Jesus and it will help us see why that matters, why he pointed to Jesus in the first place, and what that means for us today.

The good news that God would provide a way for sinners to be reconciled to himself was first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised the seed of the woman would be born who would bring victory over sin and its inevitable effects - death. Then the rest of the OT traces this promised seed of God, all the while reminding us of God’s grace and mercy and sovereign plan to provide salvation for sinners and healing for sufferers. In short, the gospel story did not begin with the birth of Jesus – no – the gospel story began long before. And this is why John does not begin is gospel account with the birth of Jesus – he’s wanting his readers to see Jesus not as the beginning of the gospel but how the gospel is embodied and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of God! 

John doesn’t start his gospel account with a genealogy, a background, or even the story of the birth of Christ. John’s gospel starts with this: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...” John wants us to know from the start that Jesus is God and he uses John 1:1-13 to give us 19 more doctrinal statements about the person and work of Jesus Christ in order that we might believe and have life through His name!

The reason John wrote this account of the life of Jesus can be summarized in one word: BELIEVE.

Our culture is big on belief, you could say there is a belief in belief. But John invites us into something more. In this sermon we will answer three questions: What do we need to believe? What does it mean to believe? And why do we need to believe not just in belief, but believe in Jesus? 

The King has given his servants resource and charged them to "engage in business until I come." Having woke up this morning and seeing that He hasn't yet returned means there is more business to do!

How will you use your money, calendar, and energy to engage in Kingdom business until the King returns?

God gives us everything we own and enjoy, meaning everything we have is His. If only the Church used what it had for the Glory of God and the serving of others, the way the world uses what it has to serve self…

We start to use what we have for His Glory and other's good when we clearly see what Jesus has done on our behalf. Jesus PAID IT ALL. ALL TO HIM WE OWE. 

This story and subsequent parable invite us to consider how God’s grace forms, fuels and guides God’s people to love generously. In fact, Jesus Christ came to save big sinners and when those big sinners receive God’s grace, the worst of sinners become the most generous saints!

A disciple becomes generous when they remember the gospel that contains the power to propel them to distribute the mercy and grace they are regularly receiving from God - to the glory of Jesus and good of others!

Matthew 28:16-20 is Jesus' commission to His first disciples and therefore it is also His commission to His church ever since. Which means if you're not a Christian this morning, this is Jesus' life purpose for you; for us in our community. TRUTH: No one has ever been chosen to just be a recipient of the amazing grace of God has also been commissioned to be an instrument of that same work of grace as well.

Everyone is born with an innate sense of justice because we’re all gloriously made in the image and likeness of God – WHO IS JUST! But the truth is we all want the offender to get what is coming to him because we all desire for JUSTICE to be served. Now this is good, but when we choose to accomplish this ourselves it’s condemnable wrath. The good news is that Jesus took our wrath along with every other condemnable sin when He absorbed the perfect just wrath of God on His cross at Calvary. Which means we can trust that every injustice will be set right in God’s timing when Jesus returns and as a result can let go and be delivered from the unbearable burden of wrath by the grace of God.

The dictionary definition of laziness is the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy. It’s idleness, apathy, indifference or complacency. This means that laziness might be bigger than most people think at first and therefore could possibly expand to who is a sluggard. Laziness is a lack of productivity, but also excessive productivity in the wrong direction!

Pride is the most deceitful, dangerous and deadly sin. God promises to crush it wherever He finds it. Jesus took our pride upon Himself on the cross, where he was crushed in our place. Through His humble obedience He defeated Pride and gives us His humility to be accepted by ther Father.

The world will tell us that we can define sexuality on our own terms and serves us the narrative that sex exists solely for the purpose of making us feel good. This caters to the sinful desire of lust in each of us and teaches us to dishonor image bearers and disregard God in the process. Thankfully, our God provides a remedy for our lust and a way for us to honor Him with our sexuality! Join this conversation with us as we experience freedom in Christ and teach the next generation about the goodness of our God as it relates to this important topic!

When we think about greed we might envision a money hungry executive or plotting bank robber but biblical greed isn’t that simple. Greed is both the love of money and the trust in money, the belief that money will make you happy and the use of money to get what you want. The problem with greed is not that we worship money but that we worship what money will give us and Jesus wants to redeem our idolaltrous relationship with the good news of His gospel and a relationship with Him!

The way of the wise aligns our heart to Jesus and gives us full satisfaction. The way of self leads to overindulgence that suffocates our satisfaction and leads us to despair. The gospel frees us to direct our hearts to the way of Jesus.

Envy is the byproduct of discontentedness. And when we envy, we make clear our lack of faith in the gospel! Trusting and following Jesus – Believing the gospel – living life according to the Scriptures, following the Holy Sprit in your daily living, will lead you into a life satisfaction, purpose, meaning, value and worth. And this is what the book of proverbs is all about. Read Proverbs 14:30. It’s the gospel!

Proverbs shows the beauty of wisdom and how it guides us to live well in God’s world. Unfortunately, we all pridefully turn from wise living and go against the fear of the Lord, which the Bible calls foolishness. Jesus came to destroy Satan, the great fool, to die for our foolishness, and to give us his Spirit of wisdom.

Receiving and treasuring wisdom will lead God's people into a healthy fear of the Lord and an intimate knowledge of God. This receiving and treasuring wisdom are gifts of grace, flowing from the disciplines of Listening to God with Humilty, Praying to God with Expectancy, and Pursuing God with Intentionality. When God’s people celebrate their rescue and cultivate their relationship with Him by clinging to Jesus, supernatural wisdom will naturally flow from their new hearts into their everyday lives.

What voice are you listening to? God makes the voice of his wisdom known to all of us, but we must choose between listening to His voice or listening to the voice of the flesh, this world, and Satan. One voice leads to life and rest while the other voice leads to death. This passage invites us to ultimately look to Jesus, the wisdom and perfect revelation of God, and to filter every decision in our life through a relationship of faith with Christ.

Wisdom is important, but impossible without looking to God and then to others first. Even the wisdom of Solomon is just a shadow of the perfect wisdom of Jesus. We worship him for who he is, and this powers our purusuit of it.

The outworking of repentance and faith is being devoted to fellowship, serving, generosity, and mission within the context of the local church that always extended into the community for the advancement of the kingdom and the glory of God.

Using imagery and illustration, Jesus confronts an affluent culture right between the eyes. Jesus here, is showing the self-reliant, great love and unmatched grace – this is really good news! – he’s wanting to set them free. He’s exposing their sin of self-trust that is deceiving them, so that they can enjoy something so much better. This whole section is grace – it’s a grace-filled, loving rebuke from Jesus to people whom he loves and lived, died, and rose again for – so that they could enjoy life abundantly – which is a life of need and dependence not self-reliance and independence.

On the surface that church at Philadelphia was the weakest of the seven churches. They were smaller, had a less distinguished reputation, and had been beat up by religious oppression, physical trials, and hardship. However, they had been consistently faithful to Jesus Christ. Knowing this, Jesus knows their condition and gives no rebuke to this church, only promises of comfort. This letter gives more promises to this church than any of the other letters and Jesus wants them to know that they're his, that they're loved, and that they have a secure future in his kingdom.