Sunday Sermons

Going all in with Jesus can make us uneasy, anxious and fearful. When you decide to become a disciple of Jesus yougive control of your life to Him. You go where He goes, do what He says and allow Him to lead you. We can be reassured in His leading, because He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Pain and hardship will certainly cause us to pray; sometimes even more than our needs and wants. But why do we continue finding ourselves in hard places, difficult places, even addicted places? We experience pain and hardship because we live in a broken world, and in an unseen war where there is an “evil one” against us. What do we do? The fourth way Jesus told us to pray is found in Matthew 6:13, and that is to “lead not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

What if the reason our prayers aren’t answered is because we have issues of unforgiveness between us and God along with us and others? When we pray for forgiveness it transforms our hearts. It restores our relationship with our Heavenly Father and allows us to forgive others in the way He forgave us.

What if the reason our prayers aren’t answered is because we are not praying persistently? When we ask persistently God answers consistently. As we continue to pray God will always provide what we need, which is more of Him. We can always trust our God to provide all we need. If an earthy father desires good gifts for his children, how much more does our heavenly Father desire for us?

What if the reason our prayers don’t seem to work is because we are not praying correctly? What if we are doing it wrong? Can we do it wrong? What if prayer hasn’t worked for you because you don’t understand how prayer is supposed to work? We MUST learn how to pray so we don’t go our whole lives participating in it without experiencing the power of it. Maybe if we’d simply said, “Lord teach us to pray” we would experience prayer in a completely different way.

At one time or another, we’ve all been told we should pray. Many do, many don’t know how, and many have given up. Why do we pray anyway? How should we pray? Jesus’s disciples had the exact same question.

Throughout history, the people who have changed the world are those who have chosen to be pioneers, in countries, in social policy, in the medical fields and even in outer space. There have been some great pioneers throughout history, but you can’t argue with the fact that Jesus has changed the world more than anyone who ever lived. While on Earth, he was the ultimate example of pioneering for the glory of Father God. And all followers of Jesus are called to pioneer in the same way.

In a world where churches are often known by what they’re against, we want to be known by what we’re FOR. And we are FOR people because God is. The problem is, we often take the wrong approach toward people who disagree with us, to stand firm by our positions (morally, spiritually, doctrinally, etc) As a result, a gap gets formed between the church and the rest of the world. We must think different. Not about what our positions are, but about where we are taking that stance. And that is by saying “yes” to the relationship.

Chances are, your positions are not the primary problem in people believing that you are for them, but your posture toward them. What are you known for? Being FOR people or against them? In order to be FOR the people that God is FOR, we need think differently about our posture, and put that ahead of our positions.

For far too long the church has been known for what we’re against. We need more people (and churches) who are known by what we’re FOR.