In the 12th installment of the Gospel of Luke series, Pastor Jake leads walks us through Luke 5:1-11. If you knew you only had 3 years to change the universe, who would you choose to help you do it? Who would you choose to carry the torch after you died? What would be your criteria? In this passage, we see 3 requirements to follow Jesus, but they’re not the same as our requirements would be. Do you meet these requirements? Are you a follower of Jesus?

This message was given on March 1st, 2015 at Green Bay First by Pastor Jake Mills.

In this message, we look at the last half of Luke 4. In it, Jesus leaves the faithless in Nazareth and goes to Capernaum, where He heals countless people and casts demons out of many. The people are amazed because He speaks with such authority. His authority is founded in who He is. In other words, who He is makes what He says worth listening to. He’s the King and everything is in His kingdom. There’s only one thing to do when you come face-to-face with the King of the Universe: completely and totally surrender everything you are to Him. Have you done that?

This week, Pastor Jake zeroes in on Luke 4:14-30. In this passage, we see Jesus go back to His hometown of Nazareth. And the people of Nazareth respond first by marveling at His teaching, but then it takes a turn for the worse and escalates quickly. In the end, the people of Nazareth, who had known Jesus His whole life, gather a lynch mob together to throw Jesus off of a cliff. You thought you had hometown issues! So what made them so angry? It wasn’t what Jesus said about Himself…that made them marvel. It was what He said about them — the condition of their hearts. Proximity to Jesus and pride had gotten in the way of them being able to accept the gospel. They didn’t think that they were the poor, blind, broken captives that Jesus said He had come to proclaim the good news to. They lacked desperation. May we be desperate for Christ and receive Him better than the people of His hometown!

This week we look at Luke 4 -- the temptation of Jesus. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit not to the beach or the coffee shop or the next big money-making idea, but to the Desert. And Jesus went there to face the devil himself. The truth is, the Holy Spirit will often lead you out of comfort and ease into the desert for Christ. It's not an easy road. Isn't it interesting that every single temptation the devil throws at Jesus has to do with taking the easy way out? He's not tempting Him with wickedness...he's tempting Jesus with a shortcut, with safety, with comfort. May we be of one mind and purpose as Christ was!

This week, Pastor Jake talks about Jesus' baptism and genealogy in Luke chapter 3. Since Jesus was sinless, He wasn't baptized by John to repent, be made new, or become righteous. Jesus is not just righteous, He's righteousness itself. He's righteous not because He did righteous things. Instead, righteous things are righteous because He does them. Jesus is Righteousness. So, He was baptized to show us what is righteous. Have you been baptized? If not, why?

And Luke includes in his gospel a genealogy of Jesus that goes all the way back to Adam. Isn't that strange? Isn't it obvious that Jesus is a descendant of Adam (because everyone is)? It's an interesting thing to include and it's not without meaning. Luke is making a point to tie Jesus back to Adam. The Apostle Paul does the same thing in Romans 5 -- Jesus and Adam are connected! Sin comes to humanity through Adam and brings with it death -- physical, spiritual, emotional death. But life, and fulfillment, and the defeat of sin comes through Christ! Have you ever felt like contentment, peace, joy, fulfillment are just out of reach? That they keep slipping through your fingers? Maybe it's because you're living life through Adam and not through Christ...

This message was given on February 1, 2015 by Pastor Jake Mills at Green Bay First.

In this message, Pastor Jake leads us in exploring Luke 3:15-20. John the Baptist is this amazing preacher who saw great success in his ministry, and yet he was a man full of humility who knew his unworthiness to do even the humblest of acts for Christ. Developing humility is extremely important in the life of the believer. In fact, your ability will only take you as far as your humility allows. And this idea of humility and unworthiness affects not only your interactions with others, but also the way you interact with God. And you’re going to need to know how to approach God if you’re going to make it to His return, because John had water to work with, but Jesus is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit!

This message was given on January 25th, 2015 by Pastor Jake Mills at Green Bay First.

In this message on Luke 3:1-14, we take a look at John the Baptist — the great “Preparer of the way” talked about in the book of Isaiah. He shows up in the wilderness preaching a message that would be hard for many of us to hear were it found in a church today. He calls his listeners “vipers”, insults their race, and says “you better repent!” But what does it mean to repent? Is it a one time thing that happens at salvation or something more? John the Baptist preached that we should bear the fruit of repentance. What does that look like?

This message was given on January 18th, 2015 by Pastor Jake Mills at Green Bay First.