Watermark Bible Church, Portsmouth, Virginia

This Sunday, we’ll look at another one of Jesus’ stories. It’s a story about a king who sent out many invitations to see that his son would be honored. It’s a compelling story that causes us to wrestle with how do we respond to the invitation to honor the son.

Every parent wants to provide a strong, stable home for our children. We want our kids to grow up to be mature, responsible, good natured, and confident. Getting there can sometimes be an interesting journey. This Father’s day we are looking at a well known story that Jesus told where God is represented by a father. Well, that story is packed with a lot of helpful parenting principles that is helpful to parents in any stage of life.

Many times when Jesus taught he used stories. Stories of how to live, how to love, how honor God. His stories challenge our thinking and encourage our soul. During the next 5 weeks we will explore several of Jesus’ most captivating stories. Amazingly, Jesus’ timeless stories continue to connect with any audience.

We’ve reached the dramatic conclusion of the book of Exodus. There is one central question the Exodus has been dealing with and that is, “God, will you really be with us?” Because, sin the fall humanity moved from life to death, from God’s presence to God’s distance. Exodus 40 will answer that question in dramatic fashion, and yet leave with another cliffhanger. A cliffhanger, we’ll explore this Sunday. This is such an important message and I’m so excited to see you this Sunday.

We would sure love a silver bullet or a magic recipe to get fit or defying aging wouldn’t we? The truth is there is no silver bullet, it takes work. Likewise, with spiritual growth there is a cost involved. There is no secret recipe to make you a mature follower of Jesus. The Israelites would learn that lesson. I want us to see what it take as well. I’m excited to explore with you some key principles of spiritual growth.

Sometimes you fail so bad that know no matter how many do overs you get you can’t succeed on your own. That was the story of the Israelites. But, as we’ll see this week, God reached down to them, reestablished His covenant with them, and continued to involve them in the work of building His tabernacle. That was the story of the Israelites and in many ways it’s our story as well.

Do you ever feel like you’re losing hope? Like bad things just keep coming, or that you’ve messed up so bad this time, the situation is entirely toast? The good news is that God never counts you out, and His grace can handle any and every situation. Check in with us online or in-person this Sunday for the next stop in our journey through the Book of Exodus. We’ll see God restore hope in a big way that should encourage us for even the hardest moments we face in our lives!

Have you ever been waiting for something and it seems like it’s taking forever? The Israelites had been waiting for Moses to come down the mountain and they were growing impatient. Their impatience led to a whirlwind of sin, but the reality is their story often mirrors our story. Join us on Sunday as we explore the next movement of hope and that is, hope that is lost can be restored.

As we continue through the book of Exodus, we’ve made our way to section that sounds like it’s been ripped straight from the dark ages. This Sunday we’ll read about priests and garments, sacrifices and blood, stones and inscriptions. At first glance it is difficult to relate to, but as we dig a little deeper we’ll discover that all of that anticipated who we are to be today as followers of Jesus. This exciting sermon will draw on the past, look towards the future, and encourage us in the present.

As we continue making our way through the book of Exodus we’ve come to the point where God has rescued his people, he’s provided a set of standards for his people and now the time has come for him to dwell in the midst of his people. To do that God would choose as his dwelling place a tent. God so desperately wants to be with his people that he would reside in a tent. You know he wants that desperately to be with you as well. Come this Sunday and be encouraged.