The Simple Truth

Stop a minute and take a look at the road you're on. Can you see where it leads? Is it a place you want to go? Maybe it leads to broken relationships or a broken life. Maybe it leads to addiction. Pastor Dion tells us today that Jesus is still asking the same question he asked Saul on the road to Damascus. He's asking you today, “Why are you fighting me?” Why are you fighting Jesus? The road he has chosen for you leads to wholeness and life. It leads to a life filled with love. Stop fighting him today.

Pastor Dion tells us today that Saul was under new management. The old Saul would kill and imprison Christians, but the new Saul was a new man. He would go on to be beaten and imprisoned himself for following Christ and refusing to be quiet about it. How about you? Are you headed down the wrong path? Is it time for you to turn over management of your life to someone new? Turn to Jesus and give your life to him. He'll take it and make something great—something you would never expect!

Jesus' mission was clear while he was here on the earth. His purpose was to bring hope to the hopeless. To find the sick and heal them. And there was nothing that could ever stand in his way. As Pastor Dion said, he went to the dirty places, the scary places. He went everywhere he needed to go in order to bring life and light to the people who needed it most. Maybe it's time to follow his example. There are dark, dirty, desolate places where people desperately need Jesus. Time to be his feet!

No matter the amount of time that we've been a believer and followers of Christ, it can be easy for us to forget the nature of our salvation. It's not that we decided one day that we'd clean up our act and seek God, but rather that God drew us to Him out of the divine appointment. As Pastor Dion discusses in his message today, God draws us to Him by planting a thirst within us. In his study, you'll learn how this thirst within unites us with God in tandem with the work of The Holy Spirit.

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to witness the birth of The Church front and center? Over a thousand years of Judaism being flipped on its head and the myriad of cultures that believe in multiple gods being told there's One God? In today's message, Pastor Dion reflects on both the great joys and challenges that were rapidly spreading from Jerusalem. In his study, you'll gain a better understanding of how God's plan all along was for the Gospel of Christ to spread far and wide, rather than stay in Israel.

Learn by example. Follow the good ones. Do you agree? The apostles landed in Samaria due to fear of losing their lives. This area was avoided by religious leaders of the day because of its sinful behavior. What happened was the result of a heart on fire for others to know the life-saving gift of Jesus! Joy unspeakable. Lives forever changed. And genuine happiness is found only in the friendship of God. Be like the Samaritan people. Turn completely around and don't walk the path of your previous days.

Today's message is simple. Pastor Dion's explanation of how God's Word spread throughout the world was scary for the apostles at the time, BUT yielded such an amazing outcome! He then outlines several people from the Bible that were up against what looked like really BAD situations. Turned GOOD because that's what God does! Philip was a man who escaped to Samaria with a plan in mind, but it didn't match up with God's. This city was a place that had long ago rejected God's call to come back to Him.

The phrase too good to be true is kind of a downer, isn't it? With that in mind, think of this. There were good things happening in the early church that was true because the disciples were on fire in their quest to share Jesus' love. AND Satan was trying to DESTROY it, be a downer about it if you will. Through deflection and division. Pastor Dion explains today what was happening and not happening within the church. Friends, ALL of us have a purpose in life. We can be a part of something life-saving or life-sucking.

As teachers, there's always something we want students to learn more than anything else. It's no different when Jesus told his friends to love like He does and to share His truth. Satan doesn't like this. AT ALL. He'll use many different methods to try to thwart the good that's happening as Pastor Dion informs us today. Trials. Persecution. Discouragement. What you DO through these kinds of times and situations is what matters the MOST! Will you have the backbone to say what others desperately need to hear?

When you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, what do you do with it? Pastor Dion, in his message today, says, that it isn't always fun when the Lord deals with you about your sin. Hebrews Chapter Twelve tells us that the discipline of our Father, isn't pleasant, yet, it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, if we submit to His hand of correction. Keep in mind that God loves you, and EVERYTHING He does is for your good. You prove that you're a child of God when you submit to Him.