The Connection Church

This past weekend, we able to have our first in-person service in almost seven months! In that time together, Pastor TJ share a brief sermon on having courage in the midst of whatever comes our way, especially with the multitude of trying events of 2020. Have a listen and prepare to be filled with the courage you need to overcome any and all fear!

Hebrews 10:35 says, “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” Some people think that they are due rewards just because they are saved, but this scripture tells us that not everybody is rewarded. You must have confidence! For the final message or our sermon series, “Got Confidence?”, we reveal several wrong belief systems that hold us back from having the confidence that we need in our lives.

When it comes to having confidence as a Christian, our confidence is not based upon a theory or unsubstantiated promises but on the very character and nature of our loving Father God.

You can have confidence that God is who God says He is; therefore, you are who God says you are.

God can do what God says He can do; therefore, you can do what God says you can do.

And because God has what God says He has; therefore, you have what God says you have.

God needs prepared men and women in this world. So for you to be prepared, you need confidence. Why? Because confidence will take you to the top. Confidence will allow you to believe that your image is found in God and rooted in His Word. Confidence lets you believe the truth that God is unstoppable, and therefore, you and I are unstoppable!

The theme in the church world in the early 2000s was about awakening people to their “purpose” in life. Ministers would preach, “If you have a pulse, you have a purpose.” This was a good and foundational truth because Paul said, in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” However, once they discovered their “purpose,” too many people did not have the “confidence” to actually do what they discovered they were supposed to do in life. For the church to move forward, the focus must shift from purpose to confidence. So…Got Confidence?

Have you ever gotten so exhausted from waiting for God’s promise to come to pass that you were tempted to say something like the following? “Forget it! I’ve waited long enough. I’ve given enough of my life to this, and I am just so frustrated. I’m done!”

Don’t let your discouragement allow you to quit; what you need is an infusion of biblical confidence. This Sunday, be challenged and encouraged to live in the confidence that God has already provided for each of us.

God’s desires for us to be encouragers of people (our family, fellow church members, co-workers, neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store…anyone). This is why Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 to “encourage each other and build each other up.” So we can’t dismiss helping others through encouragement because we don’t feel comfortable talking to others or because we just don’t feel like it. The Body of Christ would be incomplete, powerless, and lacking the strength to overcome adversity if we were all remiss in our responsibility to build up others. We would also miss out on the blessing that comes from encouraging others.

Hebrews 3:13 says, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today.’” If you have ever received encouragement, you know the value it holds. It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone needs encouragement from time to time. Even the smallest of gestures can stir up some much-needed strength to the soul. It could be an email, letter, text, phone call, or a three-sentence-long note. Regardless of the gesture, encouragement is like oxygen. It keeps hearts beating, minds clear, and hands strengthened and inspired to serve.

We all experience hardships from time to time. It might be financial stress, strained relationships, poor health, a job that seems overwhelming, or another personal disappointment of some type. The list of things that cause difficult moments is endless. At some point, everyone comes face to face with a moment when he or she wonders if they will “make it” through the event they are experiencing in life.

The task at hand can be so difficult and challenging that it seems utterly impossible in the natural realm. Even though the Spirit of God lives within us, the fact is that there are times when we need a touch of encouragement to build our confidence and to reassure us that we are capable of getting through difficulties.

Over the past few years, the rise of the term “social justice” among Christians has coincided with a growing level of misunderstanding, misuse, and misapplication of the term. So when you hear the term “social justice,” what emotions do you feel? For some people, the term evokes thoughts of “justice” for them personally or for their community. Other people hear the “social” side of the term and equate it with social action by a government or advocacy group. This Sunday, we will talk about the biblical view of social justice and how we should fight the injustices we see in our world…