Alive- The Resurrection of Jesus

It is time for our greatest day of celebration – Resurrection Sunday! The Scripture says, “Death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin and that sting was taken by Jesus on the cross. That sting was filled with the poison of death that all men deserved. Jesus bore that sting and Jesus defeated that sting. On the third day, Jesus rose in victory over death!  Sin has been paid for! Death has been defeated! The sting is removed! We are free! This is our message and our hope!Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Alive – What To Do When Your Hope For Resurrection Is Delayed

This Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday! The people celebrated Jesus with a triumphant entry thinking He had come to set them free politically. He had come to do so much more! Within a matter of days, He would lay down His life in love for those same people in order to accomplish so much more than a political victory.That is the way that God works. We want answers to our immediate needs and He has plans far beyond what we could ask or think.In our resurrection story this Sunday, we walk with Mary and Martha through the grief of losing their brother to death. They called for Jesus while Lazarus was sick and He didn’t come. Their plea for help went seemingly unanswered. Sometimes the same happens with us. We pray for answers, healing, and provision but it doesn’t come. We wait for Jesus to show up and He does not.What are we to do in those moments?The Bible gives the answer to that question through the story of Lazarus. There is a place of hope, rest, peace, and confidence while we wait for the resurrection!Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Alive- How Far Will Your Faith Take You?

We continue our ALIVE series with a look at one of the more unusual resurrections in Scripture. It’s the story of a man who is thrown into the tomb where Elisha is buried. As soon as the dead man’s body touches Elisha’s bones, the man is resurrected!  The story of resurrection is part of a larger story of the work that God is doing in the life of Jehoash. As a king, God had called him through Elisha to take a bold step of faith – to defeat the enemy who held his people captive and see them set free. It was a battle he wasn’t sure about. It was a battle bigger than his initial faith.  God calls us to the same battle today – war until the captives are set free! Jehoash needed a lot of encouragement for the fight. When he was at his weakest, God gave him the story of a resurrection.  When we get weak in our faith, God calls us to remember a story of resurrection.  With that story, we can fight! We can war! We can keep praying! We can be more than conquerors! We can see the captives set free!Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Alive- Faith Refuses to Rest Until There is Resurrection

We continue our ALIVE series with a look at a resurrection that happened for a woman who’s miracle had died.  The Shunamite woman in 2 Kings had been promised a son by Elisha. While he was still young, he died. Her promise, miracle, and hope had died. Instead of being overcome with despair, depression, anger, bitterness, or resentment, she took her pain to the promise-giver. She ran to Elisha, reminded him of his promise, then refused to leave his side until what was dead lived again. We are called as the people of God to walk by faith and not by sight. We don’t trust in what we see. We trust the One who calls things that are not as though they are and raises the dead to life!Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Alive – What You Thought Was Dead Can Live Again

Throughout the series, we’ll discover how God brings resurrection to our soul and every area of life. Our first resurrection story is about a widow’s son who dies during a time of famine. Through Elijah the boy is resurrected! The most powerful part of the widow’s story happens as her son dies at Elijah’s request, she places her dead son in his hands.She has to release her hopes, dreams, longing, hurt, and greatest pain into his hands.  Elijah then lays out his life for the boy. He takes death upon himself so that the boy might have the life that is in him. This is the picture of Jesus in the story! After the boy is resurrected, Elijah carries him downstairs and places him back into his mother’s arms ALIVE! When we take what has died in our life – what no longer has joy, what no longer seems redeemable, what no longer has a future – and place it in the arms of Jesus, He can resurrect!Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Fresh Start – There is so much more

 Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Fresh Start – 7  The Power of God’s Unexpected Moments

In our journey through the book of Acts, we have come to the story of Saul who has a dramatic encounter with Jesus. He was going his own way, doing his own thing, thinking he was obeying God, when Jesus shows up unexpectedly and changes him. We will see that God still does the same in our lives today. He shows up in unexpected ways to do the unexpected in our hearts and then accomplish the unexpected through us! The only way that happens is when we respond in complete surrender to the unexpected.Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Fresh Start – 6

We continue our series in Fresh Start with a look a how being filled with the Spirit makes us invincible! Stephen was a young man who came to know Jesus and was unafraid to stand against the religious establishment. Knowing he was filled with the Spirit of God, Stephen was able to stand confident against resistance, stay calm in the face of rejection, and accomplish what he never thought possible.  When we are empty of ourselves and filled with the Spirit of God, we gain confidence to do the same. Like Stephen, we become invincible to any force or foe.Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

We continue with our Fresh Start series with a very sobering passage from Acts chapter 5. As we have seen in the early chapters of Acts, the Holy Spirit has filled the believers, there is great power among the disciples, and many signs and wonders are being performed. There is also a spirit of sacrifice and serving as the people sell their good and care for one another. In Acts 5, we meet a couple who attempt to take advantage of the Holy Spirit to gain public approval as well as financial gain. God is a jealous God and quickly uses the moment to teach a powerful lesson to the people of God about His holiness. The husband and wife who lie to the Holy Spirit are confronted by Peter. Instead of repenting, they are overcome with shock and instantly die.Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.

Fresh Start – 4

Healing Can Come to What You Thought Was ParalyzedPhysical healing in the Bible is a picture of the greater healing that God wants to do in our hearts. He wants to open blind eyes to His truth and wonders. The lame man in Acts chapter 3 was able to do something he had never done before – walk! And it happened when he believed the truth about Jesus Christ. Fresh starts come in our life when we choose to focus, hear, and act on what Jesus says to us.Click here to download a PDF version of the sermon notes that can be viewed on any device.