At the end of his first letter, Peter reassures the church that, though suffering is inevitable and spiritual attack is probable, submission is vital and salvation is eternal. This was true for the early church and it is true for us today. It is the true grace of God and we should stand firm in it. Join us Sunday as Executive Pastor Arik Stewart brings us a message titled Stand Firm from 1 Peter 5:6-4.
Sermons by Arik Stewart
When God created the world, it was completely aligned with his will. But, when humanity sinned, it became misaligned, resulting in pain, death, and war. Throughout history, godly leaders have helped us realign our wills with God’s and have helped reestablish peace but it has never been complete nor permanent. Individually and collectively, we alternate between more and less alignment with God’s will but we never achieve perfect or lasting peace. Often, it seems like there will never be a leader capable of achieving it and that thought is truly devastating. However, it’s wrong. There is in fact a leader who can and will enact God’s redemptive plan for the world and such a leader is worthy of all the worship the world can muster.
Many of our neighbors, classmates, teachers, coworkers, supervisors, friends, and family don’t believe and may never believe that they’re sinners who need a savior. But they will believe, at some point in their lives, that they’re mortal, that death is inevitable. This universal human experience is where Jesus, who died and rose again, is relevant to all people.
Jesus proclaimed many astounding things throughout his ministry but the most astonishing—the most controversial—was his claim that He, a human man, was also the divine Son of God. Some responded to this proclamation by trying to silence Him. Others continued listening to Him, believed His claim, and amplified it. Jesus’ claim is relevant to us today because, when we recognize its significance, we too must decide whether to silence Jesus or to amplify Him. Join us this Sunday at 9 a.m. to worship Christ, pray as he prayed, and respond to his claim of deity. Our message this week (from Executive Pastor Arik Stewart) is titled The Relevance of Christ’s Deity and is based on John 8:48-59.
The continual sacrifices of the law were good because they temporarily eliminated our guilt and debt for sinning against God. But the once-for-all self-sacrifice of Jesus is better because it permanently eliminated our guilt and debt, it completely restored our relationship with God, and it’s making us perfect.
The message of Hebrews is clear: Jesus is better! He’s better than anyone or anything else we can put our faith in! But why was the author of Hebrews inspired to share this message? Why did the church who received it need to hear it? Some members of the church were persevering and holding firmly to their faith and some of them were drifting and falling away from it, but all of them needed this reminder that Jesus is better and an explanation of how he’s better. They needed it so all of them would persevere in their faith even when it was difficult, even when drifting away from it was easier. We need this message for the same reasons. Are you holding firmly to your faith? Are you falling away from it? Over the next six-weeks a variety of preachers will encourage you to persevere by God’s grace because, truly, Jesus is better! This Sunday, Executive Pastor Arik Stewart will share our first message entitled Persevere in Faith from Hebrews 1:1-2:4. If you are unable to join us in person, please visit the 9 a.m. livestream or view the recording here.
We’re busy. There are so many things we have to do to keep our lives running. They were busy. There were so many things the people of Judah had to do restart their lives and keep them running when they returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. God knew it. He knew they were busy. He knew there were so many things they had to do. But he asked them to prioritize doing the things that would fulfill his redemptive mission and trust him to provide for them. Join us Sunday at 9am as we worship God, consider how he called the people of Judah to participate in his mission, and consider how he is calling each of us to participate.
David was a hero. He defeated the villain and led the people to victory over the enemy. But David was human. And, like every human who has ever lived but one, David failed. He failed terribly. He sinned greatly. And his story reminds us that human heroes, even the best of them, fail. But one hero who is more than human never will.
Is it true that “everything happens for a reason”? It is true that God integrates both our good experiences and our bad experiences into his plans to bless us? It’s easy to believe that God uses our “highs” to bless us, but does he also use our “lows”? Joseph had extremely high “highs” and low “lows” and the ways God used them to bless him and those around him long ago help us understand how he blesses us today. Join us this Sunday, January 8 at 9am as we ask these important questions and seek the answers God has revealed through a fascinating narrative of betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness.
When we recognize how extraordinary God is and how ordinary we are by comparison, we may feel that God is too different from us to understand us or too distant from us to be close to us. But when read the Christmas story with a fresh interpretation, we discover that God came to us in many ordinary ways, easing our fears that he is too different or too distant. Instead, he became like us and came close to us.