In this passage from the book of 1 Corinthians, we learn that every single person in the church is important and serves a part in God’s kingdom. Pastor Phil teaches four ways that each of us are essential to the body (church) we are a part of; as individuals, we are essential for the diversity, unity, gifting, and care of the body of Christ. Questions to ask ourselves: Are we using the gifts God has given us in the church, for His glory? Are we serving or on the sidelines? Are we celebrating the gifting of others, not just ourselves?

In this passage from the book of Luke, Pastor Neal reveals the purpose of communion. First, communion is about remembering what God has done for us, remembering His faithfulness, His mercy, the sacrifice of Christ for us, and our participation with Christ and all the benefits that are ours in Him. Second, communion is about renewing our faith, by which we reflect, repent, reaffirm, resolve and reapply. And last, communion is about rejoicing and celebrating what God has done for us, by which we worship and praise the Lord.

In this third sermon from our Advent Series, we take a look at Christmas through the eyes of the Magi and see the critical role they have in the Christmas story. The Magi show us that Jesus is Lord over everyone, but that not everyone makes Jesus their Lord. We are challenged to worship him with all of our life, and to repent and trust fully in Jesus as Lord. From our Sunday Service at Grace Bible Church of Bend.

In this second sermon from our Advent series, we take a look at the Christmas story through the eyes of the shepherds. Through the account of the shepherds being visited by the angels, we see that the Christmas story is a picture God reaching down to find us and save us. He has made a way for all of us to find him through his Son Jesus Christ. He is accessible, approachable and understands us, for he humbled himself to take on human fraility and weakness, becoming flesh and bone like us. And this all to save us and deliver us from our greatest enemy, our own sins. From our Sunday Service at Grace Bible Church of Bend.

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus gives us four important truths: 1) There are consequences to rejecting the Lord, 2) God keeps his promises, 3) Without salvation in Christ there is great reason to fear His return, and 4) We who are in Him can have confidence (there’s no reason to fear) as Jesus is not coming to pour out wrath on us, but to rescue and redeem us. There is coming a cataclysmic destruction upon the earth as a warning for those who reject the Lord. Jesus came humbly the first time, as a lamb, as a baby. But when He comes back, He will do so as a lion, as the King of kings. Questions to ask ourselves: Will we heed the warning of the Lord? Will we learning from those who have received consequences or will we reject the Lord and face the consequences ourselves? Are we ready? Will we believe and act on Him today?

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus gives direction and counsel (wisdom) to the disciples (and us) on how to live and respond in times of terror. He prophesied what will take place so that we would live now as God calls us to and to be settled when the prophecy comes to pass. He instructs us to 1) not be deceived by false messiahs with false gospels, 2) not be afraid, 3) not miss the gospel opportunities that terror brings, 4) respond by enduring terror with the joy of the gospel, 5) respond by having hope in the promise of the Holy Spirit, and 6) not give up. Questions to ask ourselves: Are we allowing God’s Word to guide us and our thinking? Is Jesus Christ our Solid Rock? Are we ready to suffer and be persecuted for God’s namesake? Is the world seeing the gospel in our response to the terror going on right now? Jesus gives us hope that our endurance will bring eternal life. Is He worth it?

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples of the danger of hypocrisy and the wonder of true sacrifice. The scribes were using the pretense of religion to abuse those God had placed in their care. They sought recognition, honor and respect; their self-idolatrous attitudes brought forth ugly displays of abuse of power and position. Jesus shows us that hypocrisy keeps us from seeing who we are, seeing our need and receiving the help we need (the message of redemption from the cross). In stark contrast, Jesus marvels at the widow who offered everything she had. This passage shows us that our heart and worship are the greatest gift of all. God sees behind every gift given and values it based on the heart; He treasures us not for what we have but for who we are. So some questions to ask ourselves: Are we more interested in keeping up on appearances than we are in a heart relationship with God? Are we living for God from the inside out?

In this passage from the Book of Luke, the Sadducees themselves try to trap Jesus in his words. And once again he silences those testing him. From the Sadducees we learn that our theology affects how we live our life and our presuppositions can distort our theology. We need to be aware of our biases or it will distort our understanding of God's Word. We must also allow God's Word to speak for itself, letting Scripture interpret Scripture; and even when we don’t understand it, we should believe and trust God’s Word. Questions to ask ourselves: how does theology affect the way we live? Are we growing in correct theology? We also find clarity about resurrection in this passage, that only those who are considered worthy (have faith and repentance in Jesus Christ) will be resurrected and have a glorified life with perfect relationship with all saints, a glorified body with no more death, and a glorified identity with immortal life as sons of God.

In this passage of Luke, we see the religious leaders continuing their questioning and attempts at trapping Jesus. But Jesus is sovereign and cannot be trapped; he will give himself over when it is the proper time. Through Jesus’ object lesson with the denarius, we learn that we are citizens of two kingdoms (earthly and heavenly) and have the responsibility to respect and respond to (obey) the authorities of both. Questions to ask ourselves: Who has the ultimate authority in our life? Do we respond to God’s authority?

In this passage from the book of Luke, we see the religious leaders questioning Jesus, trying to trap him in his words. He responds with a parable about evil vineyard tenants, representing the religious leaders and their ancestors who rejected and killed God's messengers (the prophets), and who would ultimately reject and kill God's own son, Jesus Christ. The challenge to the religious leaders is the same challenge that is put to us: what will we do with Jesus? Will we follow him as Lord, or will we reject him, as the religious leaders did.