We’ve talked about what it means to be bold: boldness is BEHAVIOR born out of BELIEF. We’ve talked about Bold Prayers: what you PRAY FOR reflects what you BELIEVE about God. We’ve talked about Bold Words: you speak BOLDLY about what you believe DEEPLY. In the final week of the Bold series, we talk about Bold Obedience. Bold Obedience triggers opposition; it releases God’s miracles; and it requires faith. May you get to a place where you echo what the apostles said in Acts 5: We MUST obey God rather than men!

This message was given on March 28th, 2015 at Green Bay First by Pastor Jake Mills.

There's definitely some truth to the statement "actions speak louder than words". A meal given to a homeless person speaks a clearer message than shouting out of the window as you drive by, "Don't be hungry anymore!" But many times, bold words are necessary if we want to see lives transformed for Christ (even our own). "I'm just going to let my life be a testimony!" That's great, but why don't you let your words be a testimony too? Here's the truth: we speak BOLDLY about what we believe DEEPLY. So what do you believe?

This message was given on March 22nd at Green Bay First, by Pastor Jake Mills.

What have you been praying for lately? What did you pray for last week? Yesterday? If God answered a blanket “yes” to all of those prayers, what would be different in the world? Would anyone’s life be changed but yours and those closest to you? The fact is, what you pray for reflects what you believe about God. In week 2 of the “Bold” series, Pastor Jake encourages us to pray bold prayers as we explore Acts 4.

This message was given on March 15th, 2015 by Pastor Jake Mills at Green Bay First.

In the kick-off to the Bold series, Pastor Jake talks about what it means to be bold for Christ by taking a look at Acts 4:8-13. In that passage, Peter and James amazed the religious leaders of their day with their boldness, because they were just “ordinary” people. But did you know that God loves to give ORDINARY people EXTRAORDINARY boldness? That’s the way He works and that’s why we’re certain that He wants to use you no matter who you are, where you come from, or what talents you bring to the table. But those religious rulers in Acts 4 didn’t stop there. The text tells us that they “recognized that these men had been with Jesus.” What a powerful statement! Do you want to be bold for Christ and see bold spiritual results? You’ll experience boldness as a byproduct of KNOWING Christ; of pressing into Him in a greater way. So do it!

This message was given on March 8th, 2015 at Green Bay First by Pastor Jake Mills.

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.