Renewal Church

Few passages of Scripture compare to this week's in terms of the majestic picture of Christ that is painted. This grandeur, rightly ascribed, is also of utmost importance when it comes to understanding Jesus' true nature. The better we understand who God is, the more rightly can we follow him as well.

Resurrection is for the present, future, and each day in our lives. It gives us the ability to live through the power of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. Today, we learn that resurrection is not just a thing of the past or a far off occurrence to come, but that the resurrection remind us each day that God is with us. That even in our pain, God is beside us bearing our suffering.

Before Jesus entered Jerusalem, he told the parable of the ten minas. In today's Palm Sunday sermon, Pastor Ulysses breaks down the meaning and significance of this story. Jesus warns those listening that all fall into one of the following categories: the faithful, the false or the foes. Perhaps it's time to take inventory of your life and think about where you are spending your time, money, and energy. Is it for God or for yourself? We are all given so much by God to steward in this life - what will you do with your "minas?"

In this week's message, Pastor Ulysses concludes our Weak Made Strong series with a discussion on biblical community. Too often in our world, do we have superficial relationships that we discard when things get rough. As Christians we need to realize this inherent brokenness in our relationships and strive towards treating each other with the love and forgiveness Moses demonstrates in Exodus. Instead of starting over, we need to start forgiving, start loving one another.

We’re called to live by the spirit, but our lack of faith leads us to distrust God’s plan and purpose for our lives. We fool ourselves into thinking that our actions are uplifting to Him, but this distorted view brings us further from God and instead we live by our flesh. This week, we're asked to evaluate if there are idols distorting our relationship with God and we learn how to live by the Spirit who is within us to trust more in God.

Glancing at world and domestic events, it's easy to be fraught with worry and fear. What can we do about it? Do we reach inward and rely on our own strength? In this week's continuing Lent series, Pastor Ulysses shows us that Christians have no need for anxiety. We can live our lives full of confidence with an all-powerful and caring God by our side.

Pain and grief is a reality of our human experience. It can rock our world and bring us to a place of despair. The Bible makes some audacious claims about what God is doing in our pain. If we lean in we could be surprised by joy

What should we do in the face of the heartbreak and brokenness that pervades our world? This week we learn that when we are surrounded by brokenness and are at a loss for what to do, the spirit of God hears our prayers and comes alongside us to help bear our burdens and to serve as our witness before God. Because of this we can have immense confidence knowing that all things will be made well through Him who is for us.

This Sunday we close out our series on 2 Peter. Peter says that some will try to tell us that Jesus isn't coming back and not to worry about judgement. Peter shows us that both History and the faithful promises of God prove otherwise and helps Believers understand what it looks like to live with wild expectation for the day Christ Returns and establishes the New Heavens and New Earth.

On this sunday's message, we continue the topic of false teachers, particularly in the area of sexual sin. The apostle Peter warns there are false teachers in the ministry that teach a lifestyle that is bereft of sprituality and fitting only of animals. Animals have no soul and thus are enslaved to instinct. Man has a soul and can choose to be led by Christ or succumb to his instincts. What master will we choose?