Living Faith Christian Church Sermons

The Christmas story is messy. But within the mess we learn about the character of our God. He doesn't wait till our mess is cleaned up, He steps into our mess to pull us out.

Scripture calls us to give thanks "in everything." Really?! In times of trial and seasons of challenge, do we have things to be thankful for and take joy in?! Do we have reason to give thanks in 2020? Yes we do, and yes we must!

Christian love is more than just a feeling. It is an active love that gives, shares and responds in deeds. These actions are evidence of our own acceptance of God's love and a signal to the world that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.

The church is a family. But, why does it seem so less connected than a healthy biological family? Part of that is because we are all adopted! And in an adoption situation, more effort, patience, and love is required to bring the family together. This is God's great plan - to love and choose His children.

God's people must look at life through spiritual eyes. God is working something that we can't always see in the circumstances of our world. Ask God to "open your eyes" today.

We grow when we're in community. When we isolate, in body or in heart, we're in the danger zone.

A family is made up of many different personalities and preferences, but that doesn't mean the family isn't united. For Jesus' disciples, the differences abound, but their mutual devotion to Christ brought them together. For the family of God today, we must not look at each other through the lens of our political views, relationship status, or any other temporal idea. Our unity in Christ supersedes all other identifiers.

Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, he came to call people to be a part of God's family. This family model is more than just a community of kindness and fellowship - but a love and loyalty to each other as brothers and sisters. Our current cultural current flows strongly focused on individual needs rather than the needs of the group. So it takes intentional effort and love to really care for fellow Christians as we would a healthy family.

*thanks for your patience with the audio quality this week

As the children of Israel say steps away from the promised land, they made the choice to not go where the LORD had promised and was leading them. They exchanged God's promise for their own plans. Before we look at their story and laugh it off, we should consider the areas of our life where we are responding in a similar way. May we be a generation that hears God's word, believes it and obeys.