God allows impossibility in the lives of His children in order to bring us into fuller spiritual maturity. While many Christians prefer the shallows, God does not assign us to that type of destiny. God prefers us regularly in over our heads. It is only in these places where faith is stretched from one place into a better one. From God’s leading of the ancient Hebrews we learn how moments of crisis become seasons of growth and breakthrough. If you are in over your head…you should be. That is the only place breakthrough can be experienced.

Research tells us that the average stay of a pastor at a local church in America is less than four years. Considering that it takes at least six months for the pastor to even begin to learn the existing DNA of a church, we can conclude that the actual leadership work of that pastor only lasts about three years before the pastor quits or is asked to resign. This is a sad commentary on church leadership in America. One of the reasons for statistics like this is that the Church has abandoned God’s blueprints for how local churches should be led and care for. One individual is never God’s design to lead a spiritual family. In this message we explore the design of a plurality of elders as God’s strategy to care for, teach, lead, and protect a Christian congregation. When the Church embraces God’s plan, spiritual and relational health can thrive.

God is drawing the lines between the status quo churchgoers and the fiery, sold-out-for-Jesus zealots. The culture is boldly trying to mute the followers of Jesus. Christians have been passive and easily intimidated with the powerful, unapologetic message of the Kingdom looking more like a mollified seeking of permission to just exist. In Acts chapter 4, when the elites sought to muzzle the Church, the leaders defied the powers that be and prayed for a ground-shaking fulness of the Spirit that could not be silenced. God is calling today’s Christians to respond in the same boldly defiant way to the forces of an elitist culture that keeps trying to press the mute button on the people of God.

Abraham is the only person called “the friend of God” in the entire bible. Many follow. Many serve. Many worship. But God said that Abraham was His friend. One component of Abraham’s friendship with God is seen in his committed lifestyle of building altars at important moments where God revealed Himself to Abraham in new ways. Abraham made time and took the effort to throw down markers where his relationship with his God went deeper. Abraham learned the value of worship and sacrifice as the means to go deeper with God. From his story, we can discover four altars that we also must all build in our own lives. Friendship with God is not limited to building altars - but it cannot be absent of building altars either. If these four altars are built by us, we are well on our way to enjoying God in similar ways that Abraham enjoyed Him.

Not every Christian gets derailed. Probably more than getting derailed, too many get detoured. Side issues in the Christian life become more centralized and many Christians end up majoring on minor points. The tendency to become distracted by the countless “little things” have detoured many believers off of what would have been amazing trajectories in the Kingdom. In Colossians 2:6-17, Paul delivers a powerful message to the church in Colossae, urging believers to remain steadfast in their faith and to guard against deceptive philosophies that undermine the sufficiency of Christ. Lesser loyalties must be discerned, and sometimes even discarded to continue with forward women tum in Christ. This message is a call to live deeply rooted in Jesus, built up in Him, and overflowing with gratitude for His all-sufficient grace.

Living by faith in this present world is healthy and good, but it is anything but easy. Most of the world around you resists your life of faith. A post-modern culture wants everything to be measurable, explainable, predictable, and controllable. Faith has to exist above all of those things…or the utter lack of those things. From a chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, we receive a no-nonsense exhortation about our own need to press forward no matter the level of difficulty we are experiencing. Giving up is not an option. Whining and wishing for something easier is a fruitless endeavor. When God ordains a circumstance that tests us, He also provides the means for victory within it. We may not always be able to outslug what or who is opposing us. But, in the Spirit, we are able to outlast it.

Have you ever wondered why people who all testify that they have met the Savior, Jesus Christ, and have been redeemed by Him seem to have such a wide array of differing responses to this gift of life through Christ? Why are some so drastically changed? Why do others seem to live indifferently to His gift to them? Some Christians seem to sell out this world in order to pursue Christ while others seem to sell out Christ in pursuit of the priorities of this world. Some serve, pray, give, and sacrifice for the glory of Jesus while others who also say that they know Christ as Lord live unashamedly for themselves. The bottom line question is, “Do these two very different groups have an equal eternal destiny and reward?” There is an account in the Book of numbers that presents a powerful illustration of these very issues. Moses forcefully calls some half-hearted Israelites into an intense accountability as they sought to shirk their responsibility to join the other tribes in conquering the promised Land. Christians today do well to take note of this, finish out what we committed to God, and receive the full reward of our inheritance.

Revelation 19:11-16 offers us a glimpse of the majestic vision of Christ’s triumphant return to earth as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This passage unveils Jesus in His divine glory, riding a white horse with eyes like blazing fire, leading heaven’s armies to bring justice and righteousness to the earth. The Church needs an awe-inspiring return to hope and expectancy of our Savior’s second coming, and this message unpacks the vivid imagery and profound promises of from the scriptures, calling us to live with bold faith and unwavering devotion in anticipation of His eternal reign.

What is it within the hearts of people that still insists on believing one of the most obvious lies ever presented to us? Why do so many still believe that money, fame, power, and pleasure will lead to a satisfied life? This is the most infamous mirage that has ever existed. Scripture abounds that tells us the emptiness of these things. Jesus and His Apostles repeatedly warn us about living for these substitutes for spiritual satisfaction. Yet every new year reveals scores of people who believed the lie, lived for their passions, and exited earth through a self-inflicted wound due to the emptiness in their souls. Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament spent many years living for his passions. He barely survived with his soul intact. From his words in the book of Ecclesiastes, modern believers are warned by a man who had “been there and done that” as he testifies about living for the mirage. Perhaps one more hearing of these truths will rescue some from this common trap.

There is a longstanding strand of Kingdom DNA that has come fully unraveled in the modern Church. God's people have always been called to maintain a distinction from the corrupt cultures in which they live. As citizens of an entirely different Kingdom, we are to reflect the priorities, beliefs, and pursuits of the Heavenly realm. To keep us in generational awareness of this call to live consecrated to God, there have always been voices which He has raised to communicate this essential calling. When those voices fade or fail, that generation will inevitably lose its way. In ancient Israel, God brought a strong indictment against those whom He had appointed to be the watching eyes and warning voices of a generation. When spiritual watchmen sleep and Kingdom watchdogs refuse to bark, evil creeps in. If the indulgent leaders in the American church continue to press the mute button, refusing to speak the hard messages, evil will continue to creep in and take many captive. It’s time for indulgent leaders to repent or step aside.