No one needed the resurrection more than Peter, a close friend and follower of Jesus who denied Jesus in His final moments. For anyone who has felt discouragement, disappointment, or defeat in their attempts to follow Jesus, the resolution of Peter's story offers hope. Jesus meets Peter once more along the shore, back where everything started. Like with Peter, Jesus offers all a chance to start again in renewed love and devotion to Jesus.

Speaker: Scott Spear

Scripture: John 21

Even after everything the disciples had witnessed with Jesus, walking on water was more than they could comprehend. One asked to join Jesus on the water. As long as he focused on Jesus, Peter was able to walk on water. But when the waves and wind got his attention, he started to sink. Following Jesus requires focus and faith, which can prompt us to step out of our comfort to take thrilling (and risky) steps we'd never take without Jesus by our side.

On several occasions during Jesus life, the Word of God is likened to bread that nourishes the one who receives it. One scene in Jesus' life weaves this theme together as Jesus teaches people and miraculously feeds them, resulting in the crowd having everything they need physically and spiritually. Those who intend to follow Jesus must be nourished by His Word. We must learn to become people who desire, pursue, and receive the truth of Scripture.

Imagine an average, frustrating day at your job. The struggle is real, until a stranger shows up. And all the sudden, you are better at your job than you've ever been before. That's what happened one day for a few fisherman who met Jesus. After a miraculous catch, Jesus invited these men to become His disciples and start "fishing for people" instead. For every person who follows Him, Jesus reorients their lives around a new purpose--to go into the world to bring people to Him.

Sermon Notes:

#2 Being a disciple of Jesus will come at a cost

#3 Becoming a disciple of Jesus should reorient your life's purpose

After 30 years of obscurity, Jesus knew the time had come for Him to do what He came to do. But how would everything begin? Jesus went down to the Jordan River to be baptized by a man named John. His baptism affirmed both His identity as the Son of God and His mission as the Savior of the world. For people who want to follow Jesus, baptism offers the opportunity to express confidence and commitment to God.

An inaccurate view of singleness contributes to an unhealthy approach to sexuality. Through the idolatry of marriage and sexuality, singleness has been reduced to a concession at best and a curse at worst. In order to have a healthy approach to sexuality, we must recover an accurate view of singleness, which is called a gift and blessing from God in Scripture. This message will show the blessings of singleness and offer guidance for how to honor God in it.

While heeding God's commands about sexual sin, we should never lose sight of the fact that sex is good and beautiful when kept where it belongs, in the context of a loving and faithful marriage. God provides encouragement for husbands and wives to honor each other and experience sexual intimacy. This Scripture also provides instructions for whatever circumstances people are in related to marriage, singleness, and divorce.

We instinctively know that our sexuality--our gender, our sexual desires, and how people respect those--is at the core of our identity as human beings. What we do with our bodies affects our souls, and this is especially true with sex. Because God loves, He knows and wants what's best for us. We should resist the temptation to worship sexuality and, instead, worship God with our sexuality. Followers of Jesus should be serious about eliminating sexual sin in whatever form it takes in our lives.

Sex is everywhere in our culture and everyone's talking about it. But sex was God's idea and He has a lot to say about it. This series will help us discover God's intentions and instructions for sex and sexuality, in whatever situation we're in, through a study of 1 Corinthians 5-7. In this introduction to the series, we'll establish guidelines for how to approach this topic with both conviction and compassion, so that we honor Jesus in how we conduct our lives and how we care for others.

Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17

Unity is essential for the church to be what God wants it to be. And it is under constant attack from the enemy, and as a result of our own sinful pride. So, how do we strive for unity when we and others are admittedly imperfect and inclined to hurt one another? For this, we will step out of 1 Corinthians and receive instructions in Colossians 3 for how to treat each other in a way that protects and restores unity within the church.