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Sunday, March 6, 2022 - Bad To The Bone: When Bad is in Your Blood

We are in this series Bad to the Bone where we are looking at some of the really bad men and women of the Bible.   We have discovered some truths—The Bible is clear there is no one that does good, no not one.   We are broken.  We do a great job of covering up our brokenness, but the truth remains—Matthew said it this way—-None of us are good enough to get in heaven, yet all of us are bad enough to go to hell.  But Hell is not God’s heart nor desire for us His people. So, God sent His Son Jesus to come and die on the cross for our sins, so we can be made right with God and be free from the sin that condemns us.  And here’s why we want you to know these stories: If there’s hope for them, then there’s hope for me and you.

Sunday, February 27, 2022 - Bad to the Bone: A Strong Man Fails

Samson had God going for him.  God had a plan for Samson’s life before he was born.  Here is the thing about God’s plan, it’s always going to work.  How differently could Samson’s life have been if he had worked with God rather than against God.  
Samson had parents that were in his corner.  Parents that did the best they could to instill a spiritual heritage into Samson’s life, but he refused to listen.   Ultimately, Samson was bad to the bone because he choose to be bad to the bone.   The pain in Samson’s life was the result of Samson’s choices.   
There are going to be some of us here to today and we have chosen to be bad to the bone.   Here is what I want you to know—Bad to the bone can be fun for a while, but ultimately as we will see in Samson’s life the end is painful.
The most important lesson we learn from the life of this man who was bad to the bone is that you are never too bad to find freedom in Jesus.  Maybe your life is like Samson’s.  Maybe you feel as though you have lost it all because of bad choices.  Our maybe you see your life in how you respond to the rules, your love for dangerous places, the people you call your friends.  Today is a day to come home.
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Sunday, February 20, 2022 - Bad To The Bone: Judah

This morning we’re in week 2 of our latest series entitled “Bad to the Bone.” As a kid, I loved putting my George Thorogood tape in my tape deck and listening to his single entitled the same. You remember the song? This is how it goes… SING “On the day I was born…The nurses all gathered ‘round…And they gazed in wide wonder…At the joy they had found…The head nurse spoke up…And she said leave this one alone…She could tell right away…That I was bad to the bone…” 
 
Although the song is catchy and fun to sing, most of us probably don’t like to think of ourselves as being a bad person. And yet the Bible tells us the truth of each of our lives is that we are bad to the bone. The Bible says it this way: In Psalm 14:3, David writes even of his day, “All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Paul says in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” John adds to this in 1 John 1:8 and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
 
If the Bible is clear on anything it’s this: None of us are good enough to get in heaven, yet all of us are bad enough to go to hell. But Hell is not God’s heart nor desire for us His people. So, God sent His Son Jesus to come and die on the cross for our sins, so we can be made right with God and be free from the sin that condemns us.
 
In this eight-week series we are looking at eight different Bible characters that have eight very different stories of life change. And here’s why we want you to know these stories: If there’s hope for them, then there’s hope for me and you.

Sunday, February 13, 2022: Bad to the Bone—Bad for a Season, But Not Forever—Rahab

What defines you?   All of us are defined by something—sometimes it is an accomplishment or achievement.   Something about which we are proud, something positive.  But often than not what defines us is not what we have done well, but where we have failed.   More often than not our bad defines us.   Our marriage fails and we are the divorcee.   There was a season of life that was out of control and we become the addict.   We fail at business and we are person who declared bankruptcy.   Far too often it is what we wish no one new that becomes the definition of who we are in this broken world.   

Sunday, January 23, 2022 - Disciple: The Vine

Last week we began to defined discipleship.   We discovered there are three things that will be true if you are following Jesus, if you are truly a disciple—You will be learning about Jesus, you will be living like Jesus, you will be leading others to Jesus.  Learn.  Live.  Lead. 
 
Today I want to take you to one of the most important passages on discipleship in scripture.  John 15—READ.  John 15 is an allegory.   Allegory is a story in which everything has meaning.   Jesus even explains the allegory.   Jesus tells a story of a vine, a vine dresser and the branches.   
 
In this allegory all the main characters are clearly identified.   In verse 1 Jesus identifies himself as the vine.    Then there is the vine dresser—God the Father.   The role of the Vine Dresser is to maximize the impact of the vine.   I want to call your attention to verse 2 to the words “Takes away” from the Greek AIRO.   The primary definition is “to lift from the ground.”   Which may be truer to the text since the job of the Vine Dresser is to nurture the vine.   Rarely did a vine dresser ever cut away a vine, but would lift it and tie it to the trellis in order to train the vine.  This was called “training.”   Their secondary priority was to snip shoots from the vine called pruning.    You will understand why this is important when we get into the message.
 
Then there is the branches—look at verse 5—I am the vine, you are the branches.   This passage is not about salvation, this passage is about growth in our relationship with Jesus.   This passage is about following Jesus, what it means to be a disciple.   Jesus is going to address our position, production and purpose in the kingdom. 

Sunday, January 16, 2022 - Disciple: Learn, Live, Lead

We are starting our year out with a series called Disciple:  The year that changed everything.   Last week Matthew shared about our reading plan called ROAD.  If you have not started the reading plan pick up the materials today at the HUB and join us as we read God’s Word together.  If you complete the year, you will have made your way through the entire NT.   In addition you will be leaving a spiritual heritage for your family, you will have connected with God and others in a deeper way.   
 
We have spent the past few years giving emphasis to our DNA—Connect, Reach, Build and Care.  Who we are as a church, this series gives emphasis to our mission statement—We exist to make disciples.  What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?  Jesus’ invitation to people in the NT was to follow and in following they became disciples.  So what is a disciple?   We throw the word around but we don’t often define the word.   If you step back from the Bible and look at it as a whole three things emerge that define a follower or disciple of Jesus.  
 
The Great Commission that Jesus left us to fulfill says MATT 28:19-20—GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL THE NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I COMMANDED YOU, AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS , EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE. 
 
If you break that passage down you will see that there are three steps to discipleship.  There is the learning, the living and the leading.   Teach them (Learn) to observe (Live) make disciples (Lead).  

Sunday, January 9, 2022 - Disciple: When I make God all I want, He will give me all I need

Title: How to experience life to the full in 2022.
Truth: When I make God all I want, He will give me all I need.
Scripture: John 10:10; John 15:1-5; Galatians 5
 
Time is measured in minutes; life is measured in moments.
 
If we aren’t careful in life, we can find routines and rhythms that don’t help us live life to the full, but live life safely getting by.
 
Jesus didn’t come for us to endure life and get by; He came for us to experience life to the full.
 
If we’re not “in Christ” then we cannot experience the things of Christ nor experience the life He gives.
To be “in Christ” is to be in the Word of God.
 
It is impossible for 2022 to go how you desire it to go if you aren’t connected to the source that can provide what you need.
In Christ, we find that God freely gives us what we all desire and want for our lives.
 
Life change isn’t the result of known Truth but applied Truth.
 
The best way to increase your quality of life is to be on the ROAD with a few of your closest friends.
R - READ
 
O - OBSERVE
 
A - APPLY
 
D - DO
 
Questions to answer on the car ride home:
 
How much life do I think I will live in 2022?
In Galatians 5, we read about the fruit of the Spirit. Which of those fruit would I like to see more of, in 2022, in my life?
Am I going to do our church’s Bible Reading Plan (BRP) to help raise my quality of life? Why/Why not? 
Who am I going to ask to do the BRP with me?

Sunday, January 2, 2022 - Disciple:Facing Fear

Begin the new year—We are going to launch one of the most important series of our church next week.   It’s called DISCIPLE:  The year that changed everything.   
 
There will be some who are excited about being part of this, others will be fearful.   I want to encourage you to decide now that this year you will follow Jesus more completely than you ever have.   Part of that decision is to join your church as we begin reading together through the NT.   Can you image as all of God’s people are reading the same thing what potential that opens to the church of God.  
 
We start The Road reading plan tomorrow.  If you have not picked up instructions you can get them at the Welcome Center or online at theroad.tv/road 
 
What I want to make sure for our lives is that we have all the momentum of our life taking us in a direction that will benefit our lives.   So here is our beginning question—Where is the momentum of your life taking you?   Momentum is defined as the strength or force gained by motion or a series of events.   Are the habits and disciplines of your life putting you in a place where if you took your foot off the gas the momentum of your life will continue in the right direction? 

December 5, 2021 - The Peace Of Christmas: Three Kinds of Peace

We are in a much needed series about Peace.  We are learning that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Jesus.   Matthew did a great job last week by leading us through the name Immanuel—God with Us. 
Did you know that there are 790 verses about peace in the Bible?   If you were to study all of those verses you would find that there are three kinds of peace the Bible talks about.  There is spiritual peace, there is emotional peace, and there is relational peace.   If you want to think about those another way you could say the Bible addresses eternal peace, internal peace and external peace.  
 
I want to make this as practical and simple as I possibly can—eternal peace is peace with God.  Internal peace is peace with self.   External peace is peace with others.   Wouldn’t it be great to go into this Christmas season and in your life to experience all three kinds of peace?  To know that you are at peace with God, Internally you have peace, and especially this time of year when everyone gathers, that you have peace with those around you.   That is what we are going to look at today. 

November 28, 2021 - The Peace Of Christmas: God Is With Us

When times get hard or scary it’s easy to get to the point that we simply start asking for God to come back and either take us to Heaven with Him or intervene in our circumstance so we can avoid it. Does that make sense? I've heard Pastor Rick say this and it's so true: We want to avoid hardship and yet God is experienced most vividly during hard times. Can I just submit to you to you today, the reason I believe the Christmas story is so relevant in our world right now is because there are some hardships that we're having to endure in our nation that we can't avoid, and God wants us to all see and know that He has come and is right here with us in the midst of it all, holding our hand?
 
This entire series that we're beginning this week is about peace. And I can personally think of no better time to hear a message about peace than right now. In this entire series we're going to teach you biblical principles that will help you have the right mindset to show you that you can be in peace even when the world seems to be in pieces.