Do you understand spiritual maturity?

Did you know that there is more to being a Christian than just getting saved?  Now, for most of us this is really not a revelation. I think for most of us that we understand that we should be growing in our faith that we should be maturing on our journey with Christ. I believe that for the most part that most of us can say that we are probably a better Christian now than perhaps we were even a few years ago. Yet there seems to be a mystery surrounding what it means to be maturing in our faith and what maturity brings with it. Here in the west, spiritual maturity is often associated with knowledge and while knowledge certainly should lead us to grow in our faith, how many of you understand that knowledge alone is not a good measure for maturity? You can literally be filled with knowledge and still be immature in your faith. In other words, you can be the kind of person who knows all the right answers, yet struggles to apply or live by those answers. How many of you have known someone in church who could regal you with their theological insights and could quote scripture and verse, but their lives did not reflect what they knew? Maturity is so much more than what you know about God, in fact I think that we should have a better definition of what maturity is so that we are on the same page. Spiritual maturity is where our knowledge, passion, and practice join together to produce an ever-increasing Christlikeness in our lives.

In this Sermon

We are going to take a look at what spiritual maturity looks like in the Bible and the better things that we can expect to experience as we grow closer to the Lord.

Scripture References

1 John 2:12-14, Hebrews 6:1-3

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

What do we need to gouge out of our lives?

This week we take a look at one of the more difficult teachings of Christ where He taught us to gouge out our eye if it causes us to sin.  They are hard words to hear but in context Jesus was intentionally trying to shock His audience.  The point that He was trying to get at was that sin was so serious that anything that caused us to sin was worth getting out of our lives.  Why?  Because Hell is a place that you don't want to go and sin buys us a one way ticket there.  Of course as Christians we believe in the grace and forgiveness that is afforded to us through Jesus, yet we still understand that sin has its consequences and that sin can still hold us back from becoming like Christ.  And so it is important for us to evaluate our actions in light of the fact that we simply do not want to entertain sin.  We should consider that if Jesus took sin seriously that we should take it seriously too.

In this Sermon

We are going to look at what Jesus taught about sin and the two things that He confronts in this passage.

Scripture References:

Luke 14:27-28, Matthew 5:27-30, Genesis 4:7, Job 11:14

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

Are you ready to give it all up and follow Christ?

Being a disciple of Christ is so much more than attending a service, saying that you believe, or even being "saved".  Being a disciple requires a whole-hearted approach where we decide that we want to follow Christ to the exclusion of everything else.  In fact, Jesus was very clear that following Him was not going to be easy, because it meant thinking and living differently than the world around you.  It meant that you would be obedient to His teaching and leading even when others were not.  He recognized the cost involved and He asked us to consider if we really wanted Him.  Jesus was never interested in gathering crowds, He has always been more interested in capturing hearts.  So, the question that we should ask ourselves is if we want to leave everything behind and follow Him or if we just want to add Him into our mix of things that interest us?

In this Sermon

We are going to take a look at the interaction that Jesus had with the rich young ruler.  We'll also look at what Jesus taught about following Him and what the upside to following Him really is.

Scripture References

Mark 10:17-31, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:33, Luke 9:62, Matthew 13:44-46

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

Are we really meant to show love to our enemies?

Of the many teaching of Christ, this is one that seems really difficult.  Of course Jesus' teachings are in general not easy because they ask us to think like God and not man, but the idea of loving someone who has wronged us, hurt us, or in general is mean towards us is a hard pill to swallow.  In our flesh it is natural for us to want to fight back or at minimum to see them get what they deserve due to their actions.  We have a hard time letting people off the hook let alone going out of our way to show them love.  We are comforted when our enemies are brought to justice, in fact we love justice when it is someone else, but we love grace when we are concerned.  This is where this teaching becomes so important, we give to others what God has freely given to us.  Each one of us were enemies of God and He extended grace and love to us even before we were saved.  So extending love to our enemies is not just a good idea, it is a way of showing gratitude to God and we are like Christ when we do it.  So, to answer the question, we are really meant to show love to our enemies.

In this Sermon

We are going to take a look at what Jesus taught about loving our enemies and how loving our enemies changes the world around us.

Scripture References:

Matthew 5:43-44, Luke 6:32-36, 1 Corinthians 16:14

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

Are we really expected to turn the other cheek?

In this series we are exploring the challenge and the cost of following Christ?  What Jesus taught is often opposite of what we instinctively want to do, yet it will cause us to live a better and more spiritually healthy life.  But how many of you know that that better is not always easy?  This is why Jesus asked us to count the cost when we decide to follow Him.  We must consider if we are really willing to live by His example and His teaching.  Although we would all like to say that we would pay any price to follow Him, the proof is in the pudding, and the true test of how much we are willing to follow Him is whether or not we trust in the Lord enough to listen to His hardest teachings.  Today we are looking at one such teaching where Jesus asks us to turn the other cheek to those who would bring us harm.  The question as to whether or not we are to turn the other cheek is not a rhetorical one, it is one of application and Yes, Jesus does expect this of us.

In this Sermon

We are going to take a look at what Jesus taught about turning the other cheek and three reasons why we struggle to do it.

Scripture References

Luke 14:27-28, Matthew 5:38-39, Matthew 6:12, Romans 12:19, Romans 3:10

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

You don't have to take it with you into the new year.

Every year as we say goodbye to one year and we welcome in a new one, we often reflect about what matters most to us and we consider things that we may need to change or do differently if we want to improve our lives.  This generally turns into New Year's Resolutions and while we make them with the best of intentions they typically don't pan out.  This year I'd like us to focus less on behavior modification and more on what matters...living at peace with God and living at peace with others.  I believe that most of what we would like to change, the troubles we have, and the things that we need to improve,  stem from priorities that have gotten us away from having peace in these areas.  I also am convinced that when we set out to live at peace with God and others that most of our issues will clear up.

In this Sermon

We are going to take a good look at how we can make peace with God and how we can make peace with others.

Scripture References

Job 22:21, Psalm 146:3-4, 1 John 1:9, Romans 12:18, James 4:1-2, Romans 12:15, Colossians 3:13

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

How does Jesus' birth bring peace?

One of the things that Jesus brought unto us was peace.  We live in a world where peace is not the norm.  We deal with all kinds of troubles and difficulties that rob peace from our hearts.  If sometimes we feel peace it is momentary and the saying really is true, "there is no rest for the weary."  Yet this is something that Jesus came to solve on our behalf.  Where we cannot produce peace He can and His peace is not based on our circumstances, it's based on knowing Him.  And the best part is that you can experience the peace of Christ.

In this sermon

We are going to look at five things that the Bible teaches will usher in peace of Christ into our lives.

Scripture references

Isaiah 9:6, Ephesians 6:1, Philippians 4:6-7, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:9, Romans 8:6, Galatians 5:22-23, James 3:18, Isaiah 32:17

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

How does Jesus' birth bring joy into the world?

One of the greatest declarations made at the birth of Christ was that Jesus' birth brought good news of great joy.  At the center of the gospel there is joy.  The Angels declared and Jesus shared it with us.  And so as we focus in on Christmas and the themes of advent it is important that we look at the joy that Jesus brought and how we can experience it.

In this sermon

We are going to look at what Joy in Christ is and where and how we can find it.

Scripture References

Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:10-11, Habakkuk 3:17-18, Psalm 16:11, 1 Peter 1:8-9, Proverbs 10:28, Romans 12:12, Isaiah 35:10

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

Jesus brought us love!

When Jesus came He brought unto us salvation and with salvation He brought us hope, love, joy, and peace.  These are the themes for advent and we are taking a look in this series at how each of these speak to a specific need that we have.

In this Sermon

We are going to take a look at what God's love looks like and how it inspires us to love the world around us.

Scripture References

Isaiah 9:6, John 3:16, Ephesians 5:2, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:16-2, 1 John 3:1, 1 Corinthians 16:14

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265

How does Jesus give us hope?

We are now in the season of Christmas and Christmas is the season of celebrating Jesus' birth.  Of course as Christians we recognize that the miracle of Christmas is that God came to live with us.  We should recognize that if God came into this world that He came with a purpose.  It is no big secret that Christ came for our salvation, but it is equally important for us to understand that along with salvation that Jesus brought so much more than that.  Something that Jesus brought to us is hope.  Hope can be fickle and the things that we place our hope in come and go.  Yet Christ came to give us a hope that is not based on our circumstances and one that is eternal.  What did Jesus do to bring that kind of hope?  What is that hope grounded in?

In this Sermon

We are going to take a look at two passages of scripture that reveal to us exactly why we can have hope in Christ.

Scripture References

Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 40:9-11

© 2020 LifeSong Church Monticello Indiana. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this and more videos on these platforms.

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUmXMY4EfBMUkgA0ndBL3tQ

FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/lifesongchurchwhitecounty/videos/

Website - http://ourlifesong.com/recent-podcasts/

iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifesong-church-monticello/id814657265