All Sermons

When Jesus sends out the disciples in Luke 9, he told them they “must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”. As followers of Christ, we are called to the same. We need to go out in the world daily, spreading the love of Christ and the gospel to people who need to hear it. As we close out the year, guest Phillip Close shows us the importance of carrying out the mission Jesus left with his disciples.

There are 59 “one another” statements in the New Testament. Through these God has given us clear instructions on how we are to do life together as people that have been rescued by Jesus. As we live out the rescued life by following these “one anothers” we become a community of faith that God desires us to be. Then our lives, as the body of Christ, become the beautiful fragrance that will be used by the Father to draw people to His Son.

Retired pastor Loel Fink opens God's word for us and brings fresh teaching to our hearts!

Part of the core value of being on a rescue mission is understanding that people need to be saved...and that they are worth everything it costs to save them. That's why Paul said so much clarity in 1 Corinthians 9 that he becomes all things to all people so that he might save some. It's why in Luke 5 several friends tore through a roof to lower their paralytic friend down in front of Jesus. And it's why the God of the Universe stepped into human history and took on flesh at that first Christmas. If we are truly going to rescue the lost then we have to be prepared to do whatever it takes, short of sin, to reach people with the gospel.

"The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." In Luke 19, Jesus makes clear his mission...he has come for those who are lost. His goal is to glorify his Father by bringing salvation to those in need. In short - he was on a "rescue mission" - that's what Christmas is all about!

The word "stewardship" isn't common for us today. Here's what it means - it's the job of supervising or taking care of something. In short - being a steward is to serve as a caretaker for something that was never really yours in the first place. It's an important definition for us to understand because the bible teaches us that we are actually not owners of anything here on earth, but instead we are to consider ourselves stewards.

Back when I was in graduate school for my counseling degree - I was taught a counseling philosophy called "responsible hedonism." This perspective basically says that a person's ultimate joy (and therefore the goal of their life) is to do what brings them the most pleasure...as long as it doesn't hurt somebody else. It sounds good on the surface...but if we know the Bible, we should quickly see that this idea is far from biblical. In fact, the Bible tells us that the Christian life is a life of sacrifice - and that our best life comes later.

In this episode we talk about tithing and tackle some common questions (do we tithe our gross income or net?!) and offer some practical ways to grow in our generosity.

At the beginning of this series, we were told that as Christians, it is important that we understand the world around us in a way that aligns us with God...but that is much easier said than done because our culture has worked to hijack the way we process the world around us.

Why is that? What threat does Christianity pose that it seems to be the focal point of attack from all other worldviews?

To me it is found in the creation narrative found in John Chapter One and Genesis Chapter One. In those two crucial chapters, we are introduced to a concept that there was a created order and that behind that created order is Word. What does that mean? Does it make sense?

"I am not religious, but I am spiritual". We've probably all heard this statement in some way and some of us might have even said it ourselves. Anymore many see religion as a negative thing that needs to be rejected. Many are rejecting the idea of organized religion and even many professing Christians are moving away from the church with the idea that a vital, healthy relationship with Jesus is possible without it.