Gateway Church - MO

The old covenant never really took care of our sin. It was a first step in connecting us with God, but there needed to be something better. Jesus offered something better. His death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead dealt with sin once and for all. And because of his better sacrifice, we have so much to be thankful for.

As much as we want to, we can't see into the future. However, we can trust God with our future. Rather than worry and stress about what tomorrow holds, we should focus on and worship the God who holds tomorrow. Jesus tells us “Do not worry.” Instead, we need to faithfully trust Him. When we do, we find life and hope to move forward.

While we can't go back and change the past, our past has a huge impact on our current reality. Some of us need to look back into our past and seek forgiveness where we have wronged others and some of us need offer forgiveness where we have been wronged. But pushing rewind isn’t just about us. Ultimately, it’s about moving the kingdom of Jesus forward.

We are not mean to live life as a 'rat race.' We are not meant to live the hurried, busy, over-scheduled, 24/7 lifestyle that our society pushes on us. Jesus wants us to slow down and simply BE WITH HIM. God gave us the sabbath so that we could push pause on our 24/7 world.

What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Not only do we need to DO what Jesus called us to do, but we also need to STOP doing those things that hinder us from following Jesus and expressing His love to our community. Anything I do or allow that prevents me from living out my faith or representing Jesus to my community is sin. For some of us it’s time to repent and be made new.

Some of us need to get busy DOING what Jesus called us to do. We spend a lot of time talking about what we believe, but many of us don’t actually live it out. Talk is cheap. We need to obey Jesus and engage our world with His love, grace, and mercy as we go and make disciples.

Once upon a time, a tiny, marginalized group of people who followed an obscure Jewish rabbi changed the world. This small band was so different that the society around them couldn't help but take notice and be drawn in. This irresistible group conquered an empire and transformed the world because they were so irresistible. So, what happened? Why is the church today so resistible? Maybe it's because we are divided

We want to be 'law abiding citizens' until we feel like the law is in conflict with what we believe, or more accurately until the law is in conflict with what we WANT. We don’t always want to follow the law, but we want to make sure others do. Maybe it’s time we stop worrying about making others follow our laws, rules and regulations for the Kingdom of Jesus and instead focus on the one thing that matters, “Faith, expressing itself in love.” When we focus on the law of love, we bring unity to the church and hope to our world.

It is true that the Kingdom of Jesus is at odds with the kingdoms of the world. The church has taken sides culture wars and, honestly, we've been indiscriminate in who we aim at. We spend a lot of time and energy 'shooting' at those who are on the other side of the culture war. But, as Paul said, our struggle is not with flesh and blood. We are not at war WITH our world, we are at war FOR our world. Christianity brought an empire to its knees and radically transformed the world. But not through fighting the way our world fights. Jesus calls us to fight the battle the same way he did, by choosing to lose and laying down our lives for others, even our enemies.