Simple Church

John the Baptist asked the question, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?".

Jesus was going throughout towns in the region preaching at the time John was in prison. John heard all about the people that were being healed and the message that was being taught. All of these things were being done by Jesus to show everyone that He was, in fact, the promised Messiah. All of what Jesus did was to point to salvation and who He is. 

We find in this passage our lives are not meant to be lived without Him. Only in our total surrender and full pursuit of Christ can our burdens be taken away and our hearts can find true rest.

Matthew 11:1-30

Keith Wilson, Youth Pastor

In part two of our series, "Esther", we can see clearly the hand of God working in the lives of those in this passage. Oftentimes in life, we have the idea that God can or will only be able to use situations for His glory if we are obedient or without sin. Although God hates sin and will punish it, the book of  Esther shows us God's sovereignty is not changed in the midst of it. God can redeem and use our sinful past to make our testimony show His glory and, in that, show the world He can use you no matter what you have done. 

Esther teaches us although we may have to dig a little deeper in certian seasons of our life to see the guiding hand of God, He is at work in all situations. If we seek the heart of God diligently, we will see Him moving in every aspect of our lives just as we see Him orchastrating every situation in Esther's life. Despite the sin surrounding the story that is unfolding in Esther's life, we can see God has a plan. Many times, it seems as if God has forgotten us or is not close to us, but we see in scripture that He is faithful and His love never fails. God is writing out a story in our lives just like He was in the life of Esther. 

Esther 2:1-11, 16-20

Kenny Nix, Pastor

The question is simple. 

"Do you love others?"

Jesus was very clear in what He expects for His followers. The world will know who His disciples are by the love they have for people. We see in our continued series, "Jesus", that even if we are going through the motions of loving others, Christ knows our heart. Jesus loved us all to the point of death and He has commanded you and I to emulate that same love to the world. Oftentimes, we build walls to protect ourselves from those who have wronged us in some way, but the love of Christ pushes through barriers and loves in spite of wrong. 

We can be comforted by the fact that this relentless love is poured out on us and, because of that love we see the great challenge before us to love everyone else in the same way. We see in verse 41 that loving like Jesus is literally going the extra mile. 

Matthew 5:38-42

Kenny Nix, Pastor

In the first message of our new series "Esther", we see immediately how important understanding the whole of scripture is in our pursuit of Christ. The bigger picture always reflects the need for Jesus in our daily lives and how strong the pull of our own desire becomes without Him. Apart from God, our pride completely rules our life and ultimately destroys the relationship Jesus desires to form with each of us. 

Living an intentional life of seeking the heart of God and saying "no" to the desires we all have inside carry consequences that in the eyes of the world would not make sense. Just as the Queen knew the weight of her decision to say "no" to the King's request, we must also be prepared for what will come our way when we take a stand for Jesus. 

The bigger picture shows that a life after the heart of Christ is a life of freedom, in spite of what our circumstances tell us in the moment.

Esther 1:1-12, 19-20

Kenny Nix, Pastor

In our continued series "Jesus", we are faced with the truth of His love. We desperately want to cling to that truth for our sake, but it can seem a bit more difficult when we realize we are commanded to love each other in the very same way. 

In this passage, we are reminded that God is the gardener, Jesus is the tree and we are the branches. Everything about us is in Christ. We attempt to "do" or "say" all of the things that will show others how close we are to God or how much knowledge we have about scripture. This simply does not matter. We can not "do" or "know" enough to get there, impress God or fool the world. 

Jesus was very specific in this passage and throughout the whole of His message to the world.

It comes down to one thing.

Love.

Jesus, over and over, reminds us to love Him and to love each other. Love is the all-encompassing answer. This is what will show the world who you truly serve, where your motives lie and who you are. 

As Keith so plainly yet profoundly stated, "True joy doesn't exist outside of love and true love doesn't exist outside of Jesus Christ."

John 15:1-17

Keith Wilson, Youth Pastor

In our new series "Jesus", we look in the gospel account of Mark to see that even in our storms, Jesus is trustworthy and in complete control. The disciples learned that when storms rage and it seems like all hope is out of reach, Jesus is there and waiting for us to see our need for Him and call out to Him. 

In every person's life there will be trials, pain and trouble that shake us to our core. The comfort, is that even in our deepest sorrow we can cling to the faithfulness of God and know that the journey we walk is the one Christ can redeem. Jesus can and will use all of our seemingly hopeless situations for our good and His glory if we will only trust in Him. We can rest in the unrelenting love of Jesus and give our doubt, worry, confusion and pain to the only One who can truly give us unspeakable peace in every storm of our lives. 

Mark 6:45-56

Keith Wilson, Youth Pastor

As in our recent look in Colossians, Paul is again encouraging believers to remember who they are in Christ. In his letter to the Galatians, we see Paul reminding these churches to hold fast to their identity in Christ rather than putting traditions in the place of this truth. Paul explains that since Christ dwells within them, they are no longer bound by the law. He continues by telling these churches that they are all children of God who are no longer defined by the limitations or labels of this world. Everyone who follows Christ is seen as a child of God and an heir to all that comes with belonging to the King. 

Knowing even today that this promise is still true, we can rest in the knowledge of God's faithfulness and the transformational power of our surrender to Christ.

Galatians 3:26-29

Kenny Nix, Pastor

As we continue our walk through Colossians 3, we see an overarching theme in what Paul continues to emphasize. "Love." The great love of Christ is both powerful and supernatural. This unmatched love is the love that led Jesus to willingly lay His life down for you and I; it is the love that changes us through the power of the Holy Spirit when we surrender our hearts completely to Him. There is such freedom in surrender to Jesus. With surrender comes love, and with that love comes peace. Let the peace that comes from Christ rule your hearts. 

"Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives..." 1 Colossians 3:16

Colossians 3:14-17

Kenny Nix, Pastor

As we continue our walk through Colossians 3, we see an overarching theme in what Paul continues to emphasize. "Love." The great love of Christ is both powerful and supernatural. This unmatched love is the love that led Jesus to willingly lay His life down for you and I; it is the love that changes us through the power of the Holy Spirit when we surrender our hearts completely to Him. There is such freedom in surrender to Jesus. With surrender comes love, and with that love comes peace. Let the peace that comes from Christ rule your hearts. 

"Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives..." 1 Colossians 3:16

Colossians 3:14-17

Kenny Nix, Pastor

"In our lives, we presume to know the path for our lives because we know the end result. Our path is never what we expect it to be and it is always harder than we expect. Like Abraham walking up the mountian with Isaac. It was not easy but he was trusting in something supernatural (God) to be able to do that." -Kenny Nix

Abraham had extreme trust in the faithfulness of God and the task He had set before him. Each time God called out to Abraham, his response was, "Yes. Here I am." To be able to follow Christ fully, we must learn to lean into the Holy Spirit and trust the journey He is calling us to. Nothing on the front side of  surrender will be easy or feel natural. In the exchange of our way for His, the freedom that we receive is unlike anything this world can offer.

Even when we would not choose the path God places before us, we can trust it because God is trustworthy. The mountains are difficult. There are times circumstances feel insurmountable. The best news about our difficulty is God sees us where we are, knows us intimately, loves us deeply and walks right beside us on our pathway. 

Hebrews 11:17-19; Genesis 22:1-19

Dawn Hedgepeth