We have suffering in the present, but that doesn't mean that destruction awaits in the future. We can still praise God in the middle of suffering because we know it pales in comparison to the glory of heaven we'll receive later. God chose us for this purpose. And he will see us through the suffering by his love.

In Romans 8, we learn that the Spirit gives us life and sets us free. After becoming a Christian, a person has two choices - to be led by the Spirit or to be led by the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, we can enjoy life and please God, but if we live in the flesh, we cannot do those things. We must learn to choose the Spirit.

The Law was supposed to bring life but, because of our sin, instead brings condemnation. But the Law is ultimately good because it points out our need for grace. We know the good we want to do but we don't do it. Instead, we do the evil we don't want to do. But thank God for sending his son Jesus to rescue and deliver us! He is our only hope.

When we become a Christian, we don't become perfect overnight but we are still dead to sin in that moment. In Romans 6, Paul says that we don't intentionally sin to experience God's grace but rather we feel God's grace when we feel our previously sinful lives changing. When we died (to sin) with Christ, it means we also live with Christ, and He gives us the power to go and sin no more.

In order to be righteous, do we need to follow all the rules or live by faith? Today, we're looking to define what faith is, why faith is actually a gift to us from God and how to find a healthy balance between faith and the rules.

We're on a journey, following Jesus. The destination is known - we know exactly where we're going as long as we tether close to the one navigating the way. But we will get off course if we spend our time comparing our sin / righteousness to others around us. We need to see others as equals, leave the judgment to God and focus on our own path to righteousness.

Two weeks ago I was called to be the pastor of CrossPoint Fellowship. As I have stated previously it is one of the greatest honors ever bestowed upon me. I believe in this church, I believe in these people, but most importantly I believe wholeheartedly in the God I serve. It is my belief that to be the church God desires us to be we must do three things: Love, Serve, and Pray.

After Jesus rose from the dead, it would have been easy to come down hard on his disciples who ran and fled. Instead, we seeing Jesus being extremely compassionate, forgiving and reassuring after his return from death. In this final sermon in the "Who's He?" Series, we're looking at Jesus, the conqueror of death and the bringer of peace.

If you asked Jesus what his mission to Earth was all about, likely he would say that it was to be the world's Savior. We'll look at a couple stories from the book of John today that show Jesus doing the Savior role even before he went to the cross. He loved to find people whom the world had rejected and save them from themselves, save them from others and, ultimately, save them from their sin.

Jesus wasn't shy about telling people that He was the promised Messiah - in fact, he told everyone that he was the only way to God and the rest of the New Testament confirms that. This week, we're looking at Scriptures that tell us how wonderful heaven is, what Jesus sacrificed to offer it to us and that Jesus is indeed the only Way to achieve this perfect treasure promised to us.