Coastal Church Podcast

Guest Speaker Pastor Willie George Founding and lead pastor of Church on the Move in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The same communicative skills that marked Willie George as a children’s minister have positioned him as the Senior Pastor of one of America’s most innovative churches.

God has designed us to live in a spiritual community, which gives us the strength we need to live in a broken world.

All of us want to become stronger, but how do we build our beliefs so we can help others?

The end of time is revealed in the book of The Revelation Of Jesus Christ. The whole Bible story leads up to a climax in this book. Here the author, the apostle John, gives us a glimpse into what heaven will be like. What began in the first pages of the Bible is accomplished in the last pages of the Bible.

In the lower story, there is chaos, storms, struggles, sickness, and even imprisonments. The Christian realizes, that above all this there is an upper story. God has a plan before time that will continue after this version of earth, and He uses the upper story to administrate the lower story; everything in the lower story is fitting into a perfect plan. We may not understand it, but like Paul, we can say this is for God's glory, and it's ultimately going to work out for good. While we're challenged and occasionally discouraged, we do not despair. We don't give up. We hang in there and in the process, God fashions us for His glory.

The Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament, and in the Old Testament, God's plan to get us back begins with a group of people called Israel. Starting in the book of Acts and continuing to the end of the Bible in Revelation, God establishes the church through the leadership of the disciples Jesus trained and the next generation of leaders. The first 12 chapters of Acts and then Paul takes the spotlight in his mission to take the message to primarily the people outside the Jewish community, the gentiles.

The book The Acts Of The Apostles reveals the new beginnings of the church. The early church believed and preached the resurrection of Jesus and the power of His name. The prophet Isaiah had spoken of a Child to be born whose name would be called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” and now the church would live and die for that name.

In the upper story God is watching over the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind. From the book of Genesis onwards the scarlet thread of redemption was woven into The Story. It is obvious for us to look back on it from our vantage point and see the plan, but for the people at the time, it was as if their world stood still until they saw the resurrected Lord Jesus.

When we come to the understanding that Jesus took the penalty for our sins, we are set free from the sin and shame that goes with it. Since Jesus paid your sin debt, you are positioned "in Christ" and set free from the power of sin. You are called holy, forgiven, and free from condemnation!

Throughout The Story we have seen that everything points to the rescue of mankind through the Christ (Greek) or the Messiah (Hebrew). When Jesus arrives to fulfill this role, people wondered about His true identity. Who is Jesus? This is a question people have always wrestled with. but one which we all must answer.