Grassroots Messages

We sing songs like "Joy to the World" every year around this time, yet joy is one of the most misunderstood things in our world today. What is Joy? Is it mere happiness? Or is something greater? 

It's easy to get caught up in the need for self-preservation, but God calls us to be generous people. The Motive behind our generosity should be about understanding that the grace of God is so great that everything we have is His. In this sermon, pastor Evan Savage wraps up our series "Thankful" by talking about the "Three M’s" of Generosity: Motive, Measure, and Method.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Patience is a virtue?" What on Earth does that mean? Is it that we should strive to be patient people? Is it patience that makes us virtuous people? This message from Evan Savage will continue on in our series "thankful" and look at how a patient heart leads to a thankful heart. 

Forgiveness can be one of the hardest things to do especially when someone has wronged you well beyond the point of deserving forgiveness.

In Matthew 18:21-35 (the parable of the unforgiving debtor), forgiving doesn't mean ignoring people's mistakes and failures and pretending they don't exist. Forgiving is choosing to see the need for God's grace in others' hearts and as an expression of God's grace.  It is not just a moment of pain, it is a moment of grace.

It's a lullaby we've been coaxed into believing without realizing it: self-preservation. It has become the point of so many of our lives. The pursuit of comfort and success has taken over for the calling of the gospel. Maybe it's time to reprioritize...

Being a good neighbor might seem insignificant. Especially in a world with so much violence, hatred, sickness, death...etc. But God works through the moments far more than he works through the events. Each of those moments causes a ripple effect that can move through our churches, neighborhoods, and even our city in ways bigger than we can imagine. 

Fear, in the most practical of terms, is the emotional response to a thing that keeps us from experiencing that "thing." There are many things that we fear and a lot of times fear keeps us from doing what God calls us to do. This sermon will help us navigate that fear. 

Time. Some would say that it's a commodity that is worth more than anything. You can't get lost time back, yet so many of us jam-pack our days to be as full with "stuff" as possible.  Maybe that's the reason time is often the biggest excuse of why we don't make room in our schedules for the much-needed community time.

Often in the "Christian walk" people get worried about parting. Oddly enough, Jesus partied... and he partied well. This week we are talking about what it looks like to through more and better parties with our neighbors.