Jesus’ first coming brought victory over spiritual oppression for all who would believe in Him. It was a grace filled mission, offering the opportunity for all mankind to accept the amazing gift of redemption through the blood of Jesus. As Pastor Ray explains in today’s message, Scripture foretells that the second coming will bring the Kingdom of God into full power over all of the earth. Judgement will be served, and those who belong to Christ will reign with Him through eternity.

Today, Pastor Ray will be challenging us to walk in the newness of life that was provided to us by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. After the death of Jesus, the disciples ran and hid because they were afraid of persecution by the Jews. God made sure that the disciples were comforted and knew that Jesus would meet up with them again, proving that He was indeed alive. We serve a Savior that not only came to Earth to die for us, but He's currently alive at the right hand of the Father!

To have an idol in your life, means that you have elevated devotion and love for something over God your Creator. Today, Pastor Ray will be challenging us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and all our strength. Too often we get caught up spending way too much time on frivolous pursuits and bogged down by sin that takes our focus away from God. We are commanded to cast down every idol, and to only worship the true and living God. Is there anything you love more than God?

Jesus Christ is the Becoming One. Nothing can catch Him off guard or ill prepared. We will face difficult situations in life that will seem impossible to overcome, but Jesus will become the solution. In today’s message, Pastor Ray encourages us to place our full trust in Jesus. We don’t have any reason for fear. He cares deeply for each one of us and will meet our every need. He is our joy and hope and even as trials come our way, He is completing the good work He has started in us.

As Pastor Ray continues his teaching series through the Gospel of John, he'll be explaining how Thomas who was once known as a doubter, became a missionary to India were he died preaching the Gospel. Jesus can take anyone no matter where they are at in life, and transform them by the power of His Holy Spirit. Thomas doubted the resurrection of the Lord, but Jesus looked past his doubt and met him where he was at anyway. Jesus has a way of knowing exactly how to get through to us.

As the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter reacted in the flesh and lashed out. We can hardly blame him. His friend and rabbi, the Messiah, was being taken away and his emotions and human reason got the best of him. As Pastor Ray explains in today’s message, Peter should have trusted Jesus. The voice that spoke and produced miracles. The voice that brought the dead back to life. That voice spoke calmly, but Peter listened to his flesh instead. What voice will we listen to?

These tactics that Satan employs are very effective. He is a master of deception and confusion. He loves to take doctrinal arguments, many of which are of very little consequence to our faith, and turn them into divisive issues. He loves to get us to question the validity of Scripture based on man’s inability to comprehend it. As Pastor Ray warns in today’s message, we need to be aware and on guard against these subtle attacks. We can’t sit idly by and allow him to sneak in and wreak havoc in our lives and churches.

A good coach challenges their players to push past what they believe they’re capable of. As they struggle to do what they thought was impossible, they may question the sanity of the coach. But it’s through those moments of challenge that they will become stronger athletes. As Pastor Ray illustrates in today’s message, Jesus will often allow us to experience the challenges in life because He wants us to grow closer to Him. In those moments our faith will grow in ways it simply can’t when life is easy.

In today’s passage, Jesus is ambushed with a legal dilemma by the religious leaders. They thought for sure they had Him cornered, assuming He would contradict the law of Moses and discredit Himself. The same tactic is actively used in debates over Scripture in the modern day. As Pastor Ray reminds us, we don’t need to stand on our own understanding. Our interpretations and opinions don’t really matter. The only thing that matters is the Word of God.

We all are born into this world with an emptiness. As we grow and encounter the world, we are constantly searching for something to fill that void. We fervently seek after relationships, work, possessions, money, the list goes on… but nothing can satisfy it. As Pastor Ray examines the rituals involved in the Feast of Tabernacles, we encounter a clear and beautiful illustration of the emptiness that Israel experienced, and our vision shifts to Christ, who alone can satisfy that thirst.