APR 21, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Do you Grieve Over Sin?

2 Corinthians 7:8-11. The question we’re asking today is, “Do you grieve over sin?”. That’s an important question, because whether you’re a Christian or not, you still sin. But when you sin, the question is does it grieve you? There are two different ways we can feel sorry for our sins, Paul says. One is the way God wants us to feel and the other is the way the world feels sorry for wrong. Godly grief is sorrow for having sinned against God, for having lost God’s approval. But it includes making a course correction, making a change in your life, your thinking and actions. Worldly grief is sorry for getting caught and for losing the world’s approval. You’ll never win trying to win the world’s approval. As soon as you get their approval, the current beliefs of culture will change, and you’ll find yourself having to change too. You’ll be in a constant state of changing your beliefs and lifestyle to follow the world and keep the world happy with you. To deal with sin in our lives, children of God need to see sin for what it is, to examine our own sin and come to hate it, knowing how ugly and terrible it is. It is our grief over sin that leads us to repentance and to a stronger devotion to God.

APR 14, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Do you Care about Others' Needs?

Mark 6:30-37. An important part of our Christian lives is to care about the needs of others, which we see in the life and teaching of Jesus. We also see the early church made this a priority. Naturally, we think of caring about the physical needs of others, like food, clothing, or other kinds of material help. But Christians should also help meet the spiritual needs of others. What we see in Scripture is that the church grows when we meet the spiritual and physical needs of others.

APR 07, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Do you Love His Church?

1 Peter 1:3-11. Have you ever heard someone say they love Jesus, but they don’t like church? Have you ever felt that way yourself? It can sound ideal to pursue a kind of spiritual individualism where loving Jesus is enough and there’s no need for the church. But we’re going to see in the Bible that love for God and his church go together. Peter's command to love one another deeply flows from our new life as a member of God’s family. Loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord’s family are the proof of our love for God. God’s love for us isn’t abstract. He showed his love for us by sending Jesus to the cross for us. In the same way, we must show our love for God by loving his church. We can’t just say the words, we have to show it with action.

MAR 31, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Do you Long for Heaven?

Hebrews 11:16. There’s a lot to love about traveling and seeing new places. There’s a lot to love about this world. But there’s something the Christian must always remember – that how that hotel room or AirBNB isn’t your real home, this world isn’t our permanent home. The Christian’s real home is in heaven with our Savior. Abraham and all those named in Hebrews 11 were looking not for a new country here on earth, but for a better country found in heaven. But how is it that Christians are able to have a home in heaven? It is only because of the resurrection of Jesus. The fact that God raised Jesus from the dead proved that everything Jesus taught was true and that he truly was and is the Son of God our Savior and that in him we can have forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven.

MAR 24, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Are you Spiritually Disciplined?

1 Timothy 4:7-10. We understand what it means for a person to be focused and disciplined to achieve goals in sports, in music, education, in their career and even in their physical health. We applaud them for their hard work and accomplishments. But do we place the same value on being disciplined spiritually? The most important thing in your life, the most valuable thing you have is your salvation if you are a Christian. That’s what we’re supposed to value the most and work on our spiritual health as much as an athlete works on themselves.

MAR 17, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Are you Guided by God's Word?

2 Timothy 3:16-17. There are many sayings and sources that want to tell you how to live and offer advice on how to live. In Disney’s Pinocchio movie, Jiminy Cricket said, “Let your conscience be your guide.” A couple of decades later, singer Marvin Gaye sang the song, “Let your Conscience Be your Guide.” Others have said, “Just follow your heart.” Or “Live your truth.” And you can find these restated in different ways by all kinds of influential people in our culture. But the Christian is not supposed to be guided by the advice of the world, but by the very words of God. “Let your Conscience be your Guide” and “Just Follow your Heart” are subjective. They change based on how you feel and what you want. But the Word of God doesn’t change. The Bible is the message that God delivered for us to have to live by. And God's Word leads to eternal life.

MAR 10, 2024

Questions to Diagnose your Spiritual Health - Do you Thirst for God?

Psalm 63:1. Going to the doctor is probably not on your list of favorite things to do. Doctors like to ask lots of questions and they also like to run tests. But their reason for doing so is to better diagnose your health. It's important to take care of your physical health. But what's even more important is taking care of your spiritual health. Where you will spend eternity is of utmost importance. The first question we're asking is, "Do you Thirst for God?" and we look at a psalm David wrote at one of the worst times in his life.

MAR 03, 2024

Hope, Holiness & Heaven - Be Ready for that Day

2 Peter 3:1-18. In our daily lives, we think about waking up and getting ready for the day of school or work or running errands. We think about getting ready for our game, for our recital, or our performance. Then we get ready for dinner and get ready for bed. We get the house ready for company. We get the car ready for the trip. But what Peter has to say in this last chapter is of far greater importance than those daily concerns. It is of eternal importance because it’s about being ready for the day when Jesus returns.

FEB 25, 2024

Hope, Holiness & Heaven - Show You're Sure

2 Peter 1-2. Maturity is observable. It can be detected and seen. Peter says Christians should, "make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." Salvation isn’t something you just have internally, and it makes no difference in your life. Salvation changes your life externally too, and you become more and more like Jesus. People should be able to see your salvation as you become more and more like Christ. Peter says those who don't think maturing in these qualities is important are so nearsighted they're blind and forgot what Jesus did for them.

FEB 18, 2024

Hope, Holiness & Heaven - Humble Servants

1 Peter 5:1-14. Peter closes this letter with something to say to elders, to younger Christians and to all Christians. One word captures the essence of what Peter is teaching - humility. He says several things about humility including, "Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another" in vs. 5. Christians are supposed to tie themselves up in humility. That's not typically what we see portrayed from social media influencers, celebrities, athletes, politicians and even friends and coworkers, but that's how Christians are called to live.

FEB 11, 2024

Hope, Holiness & Heaven - No Matter What

1 Peter 4:1-19. Peter writes to Christians, "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God." Christians are to have a "no matter what" faith. No matter what we suffer for our faith, as Peter discusses, we are to live our lives not according to our passions, but according to the will of God. Even if you live in a place where there is religious freedom, at some point when you live with bold faith, you will collide with culture and culture will tell you to calm down, sit down and be quiet. But Peter calls Christians to live with a "No Matter What" faith.

FEB 04, 2024

Hope, Holiness & Heaven - Righteous Relationships

1 Peter 3:1-22. Peter ends chapter two reminding Christians what Jesus suffered in order to save us from our sins. That by his physical wounds, we have spiritual healing. Then he moves to say some things about relationships in chapter three, and we learn that righteous relationships in the home, in the church and in the world glorify God. And that’s what Peter calls us to – to have righteous relationships.

JAN 28, 2024

Serving the Savior Because of the Gospel

Today was our annual Service Sunday where we put an emphasis on members being fully engaged in the life and work of the church. We had a brief message explaining that we serve the Savior because of the gospel. In other words, because of the saving news of Jesus, we willingly serve him. We spent some time digging into what that looks like. Then, we enjoyed to brief presentations about various areas in the church where members can serve.

JAN 21, 2024

Hope, Holiness & Heaven - Living as God's People

1 Peter 2:1-25. When you become a Christian, you are saved, but you are not yet all that God has called you to become. Peter calls Christians to become what God intends us to be – to grow spiritually and to be holy in whatever situation we are in and wherever we may live. To live lives of holiness, set apart for God’s service and his glory is what God's people are called to.

JAN 14, 2024

Man's Search for Meaning

Ecclesiastes 12:13. If you look throughout all of human history, a common thread you will find is man searching for purpose. And if we're honest with ourselves, we still wrestle with that question, because we all want to find purpose in our lives. When we look at Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes 12:13, we find what we're looking for.