Generations Community Church

When you're tired and worn-out, you can get easily discouraged. And those are the times and moments in your life when you will be MOST tempted to quit or walk away from someone or something. New parents with a six-month-old who won't sleep through the night are ready to return that child to the hospital for a REFUND! The graduate student who is half-way through their program working a full-time job "on the side" thinks they will NEVER finish. Tired, worn-out people get easily discouraged. And discouraged people tend to make BAD DECISIONS. So what do you do? How can you stave off making bad decisions when you're discouraged?

There's a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is typically a (more) fleeting emotion, one tied to a particular set of circumstances. We get an ice cream cone we wanted. We're happy. We get married like we wanted. We're happy. You get the idea. But JOY - joy is a more long-lasting state of being, characterized by contentment and satisfaction with life overall. And one thing to remember in trying to cultivate joy is this: joy is MARRIED to gratitude. It's not that joy makes us grateful - it's that gratitude makes us joyful.

There's a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is typically a (more) fleeting emotion, one tied to a particular set of circumstances. We get an ice cream cone we wanted. We're happy. We get married like we wanted. We're happy. You get the idea. But JOY - joy is a more long-lasting state of being, characterized by contentment and satisfaction with life overall. And one thing to remember in trying to cultivate joy is this: joy is MARRIED to gratitude. It's not that joy makes us grateful - it's that gratitude makes us joyful.

“Ugh. This would be so much easier (or better) if I did it myself.” Have you ever muttered those words? Have you ever had those thoughts? Accepting help (from others) can be incredibly difficult. Face it, those class projects in school sure didn't help. Unfortunately, that thinking isn't healthy and isn't biblical. That's because ONE is too small a number to accomplish anything of significance. In this message, Max Vanderpool tackles our inclination to do things alone - and to resist offers of help from other people. He should know. He spend the first half of pastoral ministry doing that very thing.

“Ugh. This would be so much easier (or better) if I did it myself.” Have you ever muttered those words? Have you ever had those thoughts? Accepting help (from others) can be incredibly difficult. Face it, those class projects in school sure didn't help. Unfortunately, that thinking isn't healthy and isn't biblical. That's because ONE is too small a number to accomplish anything of significance. In this message, Max Vanderpool tackles our inclination to do things alone - and to resist offers of help from other people. He should know. He spend the first half of pastoral ministry doing that very thing.

This sermon is not an admonishment to “be like Nehemiah.” However, LIKE Nehemiah, when you name what is broken and insist on changing it – you’re going to face PUSHBACK. Count on it. Expect it. It’s going to happen. But know that God deals with the truth (way things ARE) – and it’s much easier to fix or address anything in the light. In this message, Max Vanderpool continues our summer series on the Book of Nehemiah - and the idea that you can never go home again.

This sermon is not an admonishment to “be like Nehemiah.” However, LIKE Nehemiah, when you name what is broken and insist on changing it – you’re going to face PUSHBACK. Count on it. Expect it. It’s going to happen. But know that God deals with the truth (way things ARE) – and it’s much easier to fix or address anything in the light. In this message, Max Vanderpool continues our summer series on the Book of Nehemiah - and the idea that you can never go home again.

Often, you find yourself in circumstances you did NOT choose. And, for Americans (who LOVE choice and freedom), this is tough. Because there is so much to your life you do NOT get to choose. Nehemiah faced that. But what if you find yourself in circumstances you didn't choose and that don't feel like they are taking you anywhere? What then? What do you do when it feels like nothing is happening? You wait. In this message, Max Vanderpool talks about the waiting we ALL experience in life - and what to expect from God when you're waiting.

Often, you find yourself in circumstances you did NOT choose. And, for Americans (who LOVE choice and freedom), this is tough. Because there is so much to your life you do NOT get to choose. Nehemiah faced that. But what if you find yourself in circumstances you didn't choose and that don't feel like they are taking you anywhere? What then? What do you do when it feels like nothing is happening? You wait. In this message, Max Vanderpool talks about the waiting we ALL experience in life - and what to expect from God when you're waiting.

At some point in our adult lives, we develop a strong desire, a longing, to "go home again." It's a desire for safety and comfort, a desire to know and be known, a desire to things to be right and as they should be. Unfortunately, none of us can EVER go home again. So what's a person to do? What do you do with the gap between the way things are and the way things should be? Max Vanderpools starts off this study of Nehemiah and the desire we all develop (over our lives) to return home.