When you think about role-models you have had throughout live who is the first person that comes to mind? As Christians we should choose godly people to emulate, the greatest example being Jesus. Staying in our "Born Again" series looking at the conversion stories in the Book of Acts we cover the conversion of Lydia for Mother's Day. In Acts 16:14-15 we see three things about her that honored God. I. Her Profession Honored God (Vs. 14-15, II. Her Life Honored God. (Vs. 14-15a) III. Her Family Honored God. (Vs. 15).

No matter who we are, every person has some type of bias. It may be a bias that is sinful or it may be one that’s more of a personal opinion. When the Apostles began to share the gospel with people they had a great bias toward their audience. They believed that only Jews and chose who had converted to Judaism could become a Christian. What happens in Acts 10 is the turning point for what we know today as the Church. Without Cornelius’ conversion, and Simon Peter’s devotion to the will of God, Gentiles couldn’t be part of the family of God. The three main points covered in chapter 10 are; I. The Man. (Vs. 1-2), II. The Miracles. (Vs. 3-5, 11-15), and The Message. (Vs. 34-43).

The second in our series of "Born Again" a look at conversion stories through the Book of Acts. When some look at the conversion story of the Ethiopian eunuch they see it as common, because he was searching for God, and then he found Him. But what about those that God finds, those that think they are "good enough" yet grace finds them? Saul was such a man, in his own eyes he was good enough, yet he lacked the grace of God. In Acts 9:10-22 we will see that I. Perception is Based upon Purpose. (Vs. 10-14), II. Perception is Born through Power. (Vs. 15-18), and III. Perception is Brought by Proof. (Vs. 19-22).

When people think about the question of Heaven and how to get there, so many answers are thrown their way, but what if the true answer was as simple as to just believe. In our new series, "Born Again" we are taking a look at several salvation experiences and how the occured. In Acts 8:26-38 we meet the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip. The eunuch found salvation in the end even though he had; I. Physical Limitations (Vs. 26-27), Financial Limitations (Vs. 28-30), and III. Spiritual Limitiations (Vs. 31-38). Belief is an action, it compelled him to do something about his condition, what does your belief compel you to do?

Can you imagine loosing access to the most important thing in your life just because of where you were born, the color of your skin or your gender? What if it meant certain death if you lost this access, or you would lose a kid? This is exactly what the lady in our story faced. Because she didn’t fit the mold of a Jew she wasn’t allowed access to Jesus, but she wouldn’t give up and by faith her pleas were answered. In Mt. 15:21-28 we see that even the crumbs can satisfy, but through the sacrifice of Jesus we no longer have to wait for the crumbs we now have a seat at the table. Are you still waiting for crumbs or are you pulling up a chair?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is by far the most important and controversial event in the history of mankind. That's why every person that comes in contact with the Risen Lord must make a decision; either they must reject Him or they must believe in the truth of the resurrection. By taking a look at John 20:1-8 we see serveral pieces of evidence that give proof to the fact of the resurrection. It was enough proof that it took the disciples that ran to the tomb in doubt and fear walked away with a new found belief in the power and purpose of Jesus. What difference has the empty tomb made in your life? Have you examined the evidence?

Abraham had a realationship with God, but that relationship was still growing, so there would be times God would put him in situations to find out where his faith was. Those trials would reveal a persons faith, but they often also revealed to us something about God. With this trial it gives us a name that we hadn't seen in Scripture before, Jehovah-Jireh or God will provide. Abraham had waitied for 25 years for the promised child Isaac, then he had grown into a young boy, now God challenges him to bring him to Moriah to sacrifice him. In Genesis 22 we see not only something about Abraham, but we see that God left a breadcrumb that shows us a picture of the coming of His own Son. I. The Person of the Promise. (Vs. 8,14), II. The Place of the Promise. (Vs. 1-2), The Provision of the Promise. (Vs. 13-14).

Many times throughout history one person has changed our course, some for better, some for worse, but each of those made decsions that decided which direction they would turn. I believe that same ability rest inside of each of us and the road forks at a place called compromise. We each have to decide what are we willing to give us, what are we willing to stand for, and at what point are we going to lay our foundation. Abraham was a man that ended up being a man of great faith, but it wasn't always that way, there were times that he slipped. In this sermon, covering chapters 12 and 16 of Genesis we look at the decisions that Abraham made and where they led him. I. His calling. (Gen. 12:1-4), II. His Compromise. (Gen. 12:6-13), III. His Consequence. (Gen. 16:1-4, 11-12)

Most people ask common prayers, such as; for family, friends, and loved ones, but there are those that pray what I would call uncommon prayers. These uncommon prayers are what brought out the subject of this sermon, they're prayers like; I just want to be closer to God, I just want God to use my life, I just want to make God happy. What Paul shares with us in Acts 26, I believe is the formula for the kind of person that God uses. 1. A Person Convicted by the Bible. (Vs. 4-12), 2. Converted by the Blood. (13-18), III. Changed by Belieiving. (Vs. 19-23).