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.
"sovereignty" Tagged Sermons
The identifying symbol for Christ and His followers is the cross. A vertical and a horizontal beam. Engraved in marble, forged from gold, embossed in leather, carved from wood and suspended before worshipers. Like the silhouette of an electric chair, a hangman’s noose or a guillotine, the Roman cross is an emblem of suffering and shame. Who was responsible for the death of Jesus? Why did He die on a cross? What relevance does His crucifixion have for us today? Join us this Sunday at 9 a.m. as we discover the answers to these questions from an inspired source provided 700 years in advance of the crucifixion of Jesus.
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.
Has God ever worked differently than you expected? Expectations were high in the the crowd, Jewish leadership, Roman officials and Jesus’ disciples on Palm Sunday. Yet, it was on this day that Jesus revealed that He is King. A Lord different than expected and better than imagined.
You can sometimes tell a lot about a person, from the way they die. Stephen, the “Jesus is Lord” movement’s first martyr, is one of those cases. The narrative of Stephen in Acts 6 and 7 gives us great insight into someone spiritually mature – someone described as “full of grace and power,” “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,” and wise beyond his peers. So how is it possible that someone like that would drive the leaders of a nation into a mob frenzy that ends up killing him? The answer is a surprising one: because God was looking for someone to deliver a strong message to his leaders (“your God is too small!”), and in so doing plant the seed of a disciple-making movement beyond the understanding of anyone else living at that time.
Discovering the purpose for which God created us is deeply satisfying. Yet, often others will try to discourage us from becoming all that God intends for us to be and do. After healing a lame man and then explaining to the crowd that Jesus was the source of this man’s healing, some people in positions of authority were “greatly annoyed” and “charged” them not to do these things (the exact things that God had created them to do) any more. How these first disciples responded will expand your view of God and encourage you to remain faithful to His purpose for your life no matter what!
Disappointment comes from unmet expectations. Like everyone, followers of Jesus know how difficult life can be when things don’t go as we expect. Does God see? Does He care? As we study what happened in the 10 days between the ascending of Jesus to heaven and the descending of His Spirit to earth we discover that there is something about God that we need to learn in this world of disappointments. Before we head into Acts 2 (next week, hopefully) we must first discover God’s plan and vantage point in order to walk faithful in the midst of unmet expectations.
Some days are prosperous. Some days are adverse. Joseph’s life, like ours, was filled with ups and downs. What was it that enabled Joseph to walk with God and honor God whether he was in the palace or the pit? He consistently lived with and walked with God. For all who walk with God there is great hope that He can use us, in ways that we might never expect, to advance His vision to make earth look more like heaven.