Father's House Church Sermon of the Week

This past Sunday we watched a teaching by Jefferson Bethke called “Rhythm & Story.” God has put certain rhythms in place and as we sync with God’s rhythm and tell His story to our families and those around us, we will live blessed lives. At the end of the day, it’s for our flourishing if we submit to the music and to our peril if we don’t.

Memories and association are extremely powerful. We do things repetitively and can easily loose the value or importance of it. What we allow our minds to dwell on shapes our perspective. What goes through our minds when we partake of the communion elements? Jesus said that his blood is the only thing that will wash away our sin, there is life in the blood that was shed for us and Jesus himself is the bread of life! We need to remember Christ and what his death and resurrection means for humanity today.

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday and Eric Montgomery shared around the accounts of Holy Week through the perspective of Jesus’s brother James. He was an unbeliever but his eyewitness of Jesus’ resurrection and been taken up into the clouds changed his life completely. James later became the leader of the Jerusalem church and for many years held that position, but later was martyred for his faith. The heart of our faith is the testimony to Jesus’s divinity and to his resurrection.

Kids are crying out for identity and they get that from us as parents. Proverbs 22:6 - When we find out who we are everything changes. There is an attacked birthed in hell on God’s sons and daughters. God placed children in family for us as parents to reflect who He is and for them to experience God's Kingdom. Kids don’t need more material things or feel pressure to perform for them to know our love for them as parents. When we choose to invest time into our kid's lives it sends the message to them that their lives matter to us as parents.

What seeds are we sowing into our hearts? Every one of us has a belief system. There is only one truth and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said that I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Bible teaches us that it is “in Christ.” This past Sunday we read from Mark 11 that strong faith enables mountains to be moved and walls to crumble. Strong faith calms raging seas and enables us to walk on water! We need to spend time reading the Bible, allowing it to become part of our hearts and to stir​ up our faith!

This past Sunday pastor Greg Timms spoke about the “The Parable of the Sower” in Mark chapter 4. Jesus is teaching us the principles of the Kingdom, but not apart or outside of an relationship with God. The “seed” is the word of God and He is constantly sowing seed. The Word is Jesus Christ. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.

Why do we go to church? There are many reasons, but God would tell us that it’s about connection! Connection with God and with people. Loving God and loving people. In Part 2 of our “Living with an Authentic Heart” this past Sunday we looked at 4 steps to live more connected to God. 1. Be honest with God and with ourselves 2. To expose the lies and spotlight the truth 3. We need to live forgiven, releasing others and living in a lifestyle of forgiveness 4. Do things differently, live like no one else is living so that later we can live like no one else is living.

This past Sunday we looked at what it means to guard our hearts. Sometimes we slip up and we get FOG in our hearts. FOG stands for Fear, Offenses, Guilt/Shame. We need to be careful of what we allow to settle in our hearts. We also looked at the 10 stops in the Journey to Wholeness by George Barna. What step are you on? Have you stopped? What lies are there that you might be believing.

This past Sunday, Denise Steyn shared on PROMISES. We live in a broken world and are often disappointed by unfulfilled or broken promises. God is not from this world, He does not underdeliver on His promises to us in the Word of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to give you a new perspective on God’s father heart towards you. He is good and you can trust Him, always! Psalm 145:13 says “The Lord always keeps his promises, He is gracious in all He does.”

Do we read the Bible with the right tone? Sometimes we read the Bible with the mindset of hoops we need to jump through, Jesus said I am the way there is no criteria or hoops it’s simply Him. Everything Jesus taught and commanded us to do that we must do. Jesus came to clear up all the confusion. We need to fix our eyes on Him.