Sermons – GraceLife Church: Deltona, FL

The apostle Paul had a strong desire to present the believers in all his church-plants as mature in Christ. The elders at GraceLife have that same goal for our church. But what is maturity in Christ? What does it look like and how do we get there? Join us on Sunday as we chart a map to maturity and sketch a portrait of what a mature disciple looks like.

One of the most effective helps in our fight against temptation is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Those instructions in Romans 13 sound strange to our ears because we put on clothes, not a person. But that’s precisely the point Paul makes with the clothing metaphor. Clothing covers you. Clothing protects you. Clothing distinguishes you. Clothing equips you. What you wear matters. Do you need to change clothes? Put on Christ…He looks great on you! He covers, protects, distinguishes, and equips you to live the transformed life. How does that work? That’s our topic this week at GraceLife. Join us for Get Dressed!

Pay your debts! While that reminder stings, we can appreciate it’s force—especially when someone owes us! But when Paul told the Christians in Rome to pay what they owe, he wasn’t just talking about money (mortgages, school loans, and rent). He had something much deeper in mind, and more valuable. Paul was talking about love. Love is the debt we owe to every image bearer we encounter. Are we paying it? We’ll continue in chapter 13 of Romans this week. The Love Debt.

I recently read an article about decision-making. The author encouraged his readers to make "legacy decisions" instead of "ego decisions." It's important for us to make choices today that will impact our legacy in the future, as opposed to making short-sighted and selfish decisions. But how can we ensure our legacy will be a good one? What if we've already made too many "ego decisions?" When it comes to legacy, there's only one Person's memory that matters: God's. Join us on Sunday to see how God's generous memory affects your legacy.

The Bible makes it clear: ALL human authority comes from God. Good and bad. Benevolent and Oppressive. Righteous and Evil. “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Thats Romans 13:1. The Bible is equally clear in that passage that we are to submit to those governing authorities. That raises an important question: what happens when the government oversteps it’s boundaries or violates our freedoms? Then what? That’s the question we’ll be tackling this week at GraceLife: When to Resist Your Government. I hope you can join us as we complete this section in Romans.

Face it. You and I were born into a world filled with authority. And God calls us to submit to those authorities, whether in the home, the workplace, the church, or the government. But here’s the rub: because of sin, all human authority is flawed. Greed. Oppression. Abuse. Neglect. No human authority is untouched by the effects of sin. So how do we submit to flawed authorities—particularly, as the Apostle Paul picks up in Romans 13—the government? God calls us to do hard things, but never in the dark. In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul gives us 5 reasons to Submit to our government. We’ll continue our series this week, Submitting to Your Government, Part 2.

Submit. The very mention of that word makes people cringe. It’s a verb. It’s a command. It has teeth. Children, submit to your parents. Employees, submit to your bosses. Wives, submit to your husbands. Church members, submit to your elders. And citizens, submit to your government. Those directives come from God and Christians have struggled for centuries both to make sense of them and honor them. Join us at GraceLife for our continuing series in Romans 13, Submitting to Your Government. Service begins at 10am.

How do you deal with your appetite? You have options. You can ignore it. You can suppress it by drinking green tea (I’m not kidding. Look it up). You can practice breathing techniques to help you deal with the hunger pains. You can even distract yourself with a hobby—preferably one that doesn’t burn calories. You could gorge yourself on junk. Some of those approaches may “work” short-term. But in the end, you’re still hungry—and maybe sick too. There’s a spiritual parallel. Some argue that’s why God gave us stomachs and food to begin with, to awaken us to a deeper longing—and point us to the only satisfying source. Wouldn’t it be insane to deprive yourself of food when all along God offers you the feast of a lifetime? Come and see!