Grace Point Church - Topeka

The Prodigal God: Part 2 - To Be Called SonBy adopting us as sons into His family, God gives us deep security, intimate access to Him, and a future inheritance that can’t be taken away. It’s a family unlike our family of origin in the sense that we get to choose it. Jesus followers choose to be a part of this family but we enter it only by the sacrificial love of Jesus, who set aside his status and inheritance as God’s only son so we might become children of God.

The Prodigal God - Part 1:  Give Me MineFrom top to bottom, the Roman Empire was an authoritarian culture. The emperor’s (Nero) word was law and with no elections, he ruled for life. From the very poor to upwardly mobile, as many as 1/3 of people in the Roman Empire were enslaved. A male-dominated culture left women with little to no power. Struggles with authority figures and structures were part of their day-to-day life. We, too, have challenges with authority figures and structures in our lives. It seems we’re continually bumping into an authority who isn’t doing what we want or listening at all. How we respond to them tells others a lot about us.

Prepared - Part 4:  The Big OneThere’s one question about God that elicits the most emotion but has no emotionally satisfying answer. It’s one of the questions we have such a difficult time being prepared to answer: If God is good, all-powerful, and all-loving, why doesn’t he eliminate suffering. Is he unable or unwilling? Jesus pointed to a day when that question would be answered. In the meantime, we resist injustice and evil around us because our consciences are informed by something inside of us—the image of God.

Prepared - Part 3:  Winning by LosingEarly Jesus followers seemed to face persecution everywhere they went. It would have been easy for them to look around and feel like they were losing. Many express the same sentiment today, they feel like the church is losing in America. The feeling of losing often causes one of two reactions: (1) running away to hide or (2) lashing out. But Peter calls us to something else. We’re called to have a cheerful confidence and humility to lose well.

Prepared - Part 2:  Blessings and Curses

It’s common to be good to people who are good to us. But when people are mean and cruel it’s uncommon and extremely rare to be good, merciful and kind to them. When our response is “extremely good”, people notice. Extreme goodness is hard to do and requires dependence on God’s power. But when we’re willing to give a blessing instead of a curse—we make Jesus believable and desirable to others.

Prepared - Part 1:  Hope on the Ropes

One of the most frustrating things about being a Christian is when someone asks you a question or challenges you about what you believe. If you had fifteen minutes of their undivided attention, you could answer. But what are you supposed to say in a few seconds? How does that do our beliefs any justice? What can we do today to prepare for that eventuality tomorrow?

Dialed in Parenting - Part 4:  Fine Tuning

There will come a point when you will not have influence with your child. At that point, you’ll want somebody in their life they’ll listen to, saying the same things you want to say. So you need to ask two questions consistently: Is there someone in my child’s life I need to dial out? Is there someone in my child’s life I need to dial in?

Dialed In Parenting: Part 3 - Priority #1Our kids get their understanding of who God is through their relationship with us and it is our responsibility to teach them how to grow in their relationship with Jesus. To do that we have to pay attention to where our kids are at in relation to Jesus and then figure out how we can help them take the next step. When we are continually doing that, we set them up to have an eternal perspective in life.

Dialed In Parenting: Part 2 - Relationship = InfluenceThe quality of our relationship with our kids will determine how much influence we have with them. And when it matters most, we will want influence with our kids. Influence allows us to guide their development, relationships and future. In part 2 we’ll discover how we develop life-long influence with our children.

Dialed in Parenting - Part 1:  3 Questions Every Parent Should Ask

Our lives are formed by three things: relationships, experiences, and decisions. The tendency is to prioritize quality experiences and decisions over quality relationships. If we want to set our kids up to reach their full potential, we need to do everything we can to enhance their relationship with us, influence their relationship with people outside the home, and advance their relationship with God