Have you ever really struggled to forgive someone because you didn’t think they deserved it? Have you ever tried to extract from someone just a little bit of the pain that their sin had caused you? Have you ever hidden your failures in order to feel superior to someone else? If you find yourself resonating with any of these questions, then this sermon is for you.

 All of us have people in our lives who we find difficult to love, but what do we do? How do we love people who have hurt us? In this message, we will consider God’s love for his enemies and how it can enable us to love the people in our lives who we find difficult.

Have you ever tried your best at something only to find out that it wasn’t enough? That is a tough feeling, isn’t it? That feeling that comes over us when we realize that we are not good enough. In this message we will see why it is that we work so hard to be enough. We will also discover how it is that God has chosen to deal with the areas in which we have fallen short.

Have you ever tried to help someone and ended up doing more harm than good? Have you ever found out after the fact that you had deeply hurt someone? How does the Gospel help us deal with the harm we may unwittingly cause? Is there hope that harm can be healed both for ourselves and for those we have hurt? These are the questions we will consider in this passage.

In a world where nothing feels safe, how are we supposed to protect ourselves from being crushed by disappointment? How can we open our hearts to unfiltered joy when happiness often feels like a setup for heartbreak? These are just a few of the questions we will consider in this sermon.

Have you ever heard someone share a miracle story and wondered, “Why did God answer their prayer for a miracle and not mine?” In this passage, we will consider the purpose of miracles and how we are supposed to deal with the difficult times when God says No.

Where do you turn in the midst of a crisis? Do you turn to God or do you double down on your own wisdom? If you do turn to God, do you turn to him in humility to ask for help or in frustration to blame him for everything that is going wrong? And how do you respond when the crisis is over? Do you continue to live in dependence upon God or do you drift back into self-reliance until things fall apart again? In this passage we will be reminded of just how desperately we need God’s help and why we can trust that his help will always be there for us.

On what do you place your confidence? Whether we like to admit it or not our confidence is often misplaced in things that are fleeting. Elisha teaches us that for those who follow the LORD, the foundation of our confidence is the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God. The Word of God alone is always true and always accomplishes the purposes of God. Jesus Christ died and rose to ensure that his Word will overcome all opposition and his promises to us are certain.

Anyone who has ever been discipled knows how God can give you respect and admiration for the one who discipled you. But what happens when God calls that person elsewhere? Should you find someone else to disciple you? Should you disciple others? Listen and hear how the gospel forms us into men and women who count the cost of following Jesus and call others to follow him with us.