That's Grace Podcast

Sometimes we can be around something so much that it starts to lose its meaning a little bit. This can happen in just about any area of life including at church. When we hear the same thing and are around the same environment, sometimes we forget the gravity of that thing. Pastor Sean start off this new series talking about one of the very first “next steps” that a follower of Jesus has once they decide to turn from sin and turn to God. That step is baptism. It’s like wearing a wedding ring. You are publicly showing an inward commitment that you’ve made. In this teaching, you’ll learn more about where baptism came from, why it matters, why we do it the way we do it, and whose next step is baptism.

Christianity and the Resurrection of Jesus both stand and fall together. One of them can’t be true and the other be false. In fact, the Bible in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 says that if Jesus did not raise from the dead, then our faith it useless. It’s worth nothing and there is no point. But if Jesus DID come back to life, it changes everything. So how as a rational, thinking adult in the 21st century justify that someone over 2,000 years ago came back from the dead. In this message, Pastor Sean gives 3 reasons why it’s completely rational to accept Jesus coming back from the dead.

As we bring this series to a close, Pastor Sean looks at the final aspect of Jesus’ prayer right before He was arrested and sent off to be tortured and killed. To conclude His prayer, Jesus prayed for us. For you, for me. For everyone who would believe in Him because of the accounts of His disciples. If you are a follower of Jesus, Jesus rescued you for a purpose, but He knew that you would face dealing with sin and other distractions that would keep you from fulfilling this purpose. Find out what this purpose is and how Jesus prayed for you to keep focused!!

Do you ever feel like your weaknesses prevent you from following Jesus? Like no mater how hard you try, you seem to fail over and over again? In week two, Pastor James Roberson from the Bridge Church in Brooklyn looks at  the second part of Jesus’ prayer where he prays for His disciples. In this prayer, Jesus recognizes the weaknesses of His disciples and prays not for them to have strength, Instead, He asks God to protect them and to deliver them from the weaknesses that they struggle with. Pastor Roberson shows through this text that even in our weaknesses, God is the one who protects us and sustains us.

We all know the Lord’s Prayer. We call it the “Our Father”. This is the sample prayer that Jesus gave to His followers as a model for how we should pray. But as Pastor Sean begins this series, he takes a look at the actual prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17 before the pinnacle of His life came. Instead of praying for strength or endurance, He asked God to bring Him glory. He wanted the gravity of what He was going through to impress upon people so that they would understand the importance of their relationship with God.

Adoption always has a cost. When most of us think about adoption, we are thinking about the fees associated with the legal process and the money we will need to spend to care for a child. But adoption also means walking alongside and loving that child, even he they don’t love you back. It means suffering through their pain with them and allowing yourself to be the source of strength. The same is true in our adoption process with God. There was a cost that needed to be paid by God in order to us to have the chance to become adopted. But since, He freely paid this cost out of love for us, it gives us the strength and motivation to love others in this extraordinary way.

As we dive deeper into this series on adoption, we see that although everyone is created by God, not everyone is considered His child. While that might seem a little harsh, it’s actually one of the most loving things God could have done. Pastor Sean continues this series by showing that God adopts us into His family for a purpose. As spiritual orphans, we had nothing to offer God, yet He chose to adopt us, and make us His own.

There was a reason why God chose to use the word adoption when referring to the relationship He offers to those who choose to put their faith, hope and confidence in Him. Adoption is much more than simply rescuing us from the consequence of our sin. Adoption implies a deep desire and commitment to not only rescue us from our brokenness, but also to make us His very own. This week, Pastor Brian shares his adoption story and shows what it means to be adopted by God.

You can probably think of someone pretty quickly who had a big influence on your life. Maybe they sacrificed time to pour into you when you needed it most. Or maybe they were someone you could always count on to be trusted. What if God wanted you to influence someone else in the same way you have been influenced? But like most other things, this won’t happen accidentally. This week, Pastor Sean gives 3 world views that will sabotage your ability to be an influence and why they exist. And then shows how we can choose to overlook the problems and see the person to be influenced.

You don’t need to live for very long before you begin to face conflict. Even young children begin to face conflict at home, school, or with their friends. But as we get older our conflicts tend to get more complex and complicated. Conflict can lead to damaged friendships, broken marriages, and tense working environments. But just because we face conflict doesn’t mean we have to deal with conflict in average ways. In today’s message Pastor Sean unpacks the issue of conflict in our lives and helps us to see what the Bible says about handling conflict in above average ways.