Recent Messages

3-8-26
Romans 13:1-3a
​The True Authority of Government
As we have looked at Paul's letter to the Romans so far, we have seen God pulling both Jews and Gentiles together and weaving them inextricably into one people, one family that serve Him!  It is a true work of art!  But how then do we handle the issue of a government that doesn't always agree with the rules and desires of God?  How do we approach the concept of a government having authority, when we say that God has ultimate authority?  Do we just dismiss the government?  Do we take the ever so humble kindergarten approach and tell the government "You can't tell me what to do!"? Or is there a bigger picture that we need to see?  Could God be at work in this world, even through a godless government?  In this week's passage, Paul will address this very thing!

3-1-26
​Romans 12:14-21
How to Win Against Evil
There are so many bad things in our world today.  In recent news we have seen evidence of some of the worst things imaginable, and things that go beyond the worst we imagine, being done for decades.  Many of these things cross the line of being simply "illegal".  They are outright evil to the very core.  What is a believer to do in a world that has celebrated, guarded, and hidden away evil for so long?  The early believers faced this same question in their day living as part of the church that was in Rome.  Caesar ruled with an iron fist and demanded to be seen as god.  The pantheon of idols included horrific acts of worship, and many of these false gods were required for veneration by Roman citizens or they could face social, and perhaps even physical, death.  Every instinct says to cry out "that's not fair!", or "death to Caesar!", or something similar.  But that isn't what Paul says to do.  Instead, he says we are to let the grace of God flow out of us by the power of the Holy Spirit, and bless those who do evil to us.  Bless them?!?  If bad people treat us badly, and we bless them instead of cursing them, then where is the justice supposed to come from?  Where is revenge?  Where are just-desserts?  Is God telling us through Paul to just turn a blind eye and live with rose-colored glasses?  Not at all!  Come see Paul's instruction about how to actually win against evil in our world

2-22-26
​Be Real
Romans 12:9-13
​Hypocrisy - a church dirty word if ever there was one!  We all know we shouldn't be hypocrites, but it can be harder than we wish it was to discern if we are falling into the practice!  Originally hypocrites were stage actors.  The actors would change masks to change characters, and so a "hypocrite" was a "mask-wearer".  Paul teaches in our passage this week that we should not be "mask-wearers" when it comes to loving others.  Our face that says "I love you" should be our true face and reveal our true heart towards others.  Our love should not be an act we put on when we have the right audience watching.  But how do we avoid becoming hypocrites, especially when loving others can be difficult?  Come and see Paul's answers this Sunday as we look at the next part our passage in the letter of Romans!​

2-15-26
​Worship In Real Life
Romans 12:3-8
Worship - It's more than a song!  ....but then, what is it really?  Is it just a perpetually good and hopeful attitude?  Is it a constant sense of "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength"?  Is it listening to the right music or sermons by various preachers and teachers through the week?  Too many times, when think about worship through the week, what we inevitably default to is trying to re-create a Sunday morning on another day or days of the week.  We keep falling into the trap of "Sunday Morning = Worship".  But.....what if it's more?!  What if worship is actually LIFE - giving to both yourself and others?  What if worship through the week could become the thing that fuels your Sunday morning with so much more meaning and purpose?  What if worship is more about what God does THROUGH you, than what you do FOR Him?  This is what Paul teaches us this week! 

2-8-26
​Living Sacrifice
Romans 12:1-8
What are the results of having faith in Jesus Christ?  One of the first noticeable changes should be in the way that we worship!  A follower of Jesus is one who worships by willingly enduring the fires of the altar.  They praise God no matter how good, or how bad, the day is going.  Their life priorities also shift, they begin to plan the day according to how God has gifted them with grace to reach people.  Their talents or abilities are no longer about getting for themselves, but are instead geared around giving Jesus to others.  Paul calls it "ministry", but not in the professional paid sense; rather it is just the  out-pouring of God's love through us.  This isn't a worship that happens for 20-30min in a once-a-week service, this is a daily attitude of "here I am!  Send me!"  We don't bring a sacrifice to God, we ARE the sacrifice to God.  And while this is the most uncomfortable worship we will ever be a part of, it ends with eternal life and the Kingdom of our God!

​2-1-26   
​Grafted In By Faith
Romans 11:13-36
What does it take to be "right"?  All too often, the trap is to find someone who is wrong, and think differently than they think and assume that we are then right.  This leads to a great amount of pride, arrogance, and ego in the church if we are not careful!  And churches do this all the time - we judge ourselves by another church's failures.  If we are doing better than they did, we assume we are right.  The apostle Paul was very concerned about this happening in his day too, with one of the first churches to exist - the church in Rome.  After laying out what the Jews had been mistaken about for so long, he turns to the gentiles in Rome and his first words are warnings against arrogance and conceit.  One of Satan's tactics of division is to get us so focused on the mistakes of others that we never consider ourselves.  In doing this, we miss God's blessings for us, and they are great!  Paul says that the gentiles are brought to knowledge of the Messiah because of the Jews, but their acceptance of Him will actually stir the Jews up to salvation as well!  What a wonderful goal!  He also reminds them that they are saved by their faith, NOT by their lack of being a Jew.  There is only one standard of salvation, and that is faith in Jesus Christ!  But He is enough!  ​

1-25-26
​Never Cast Away
Romans 11:1-12
Just how certain are the promises of God?  After all, we have all felt at times like God led us forward, only to have to face intense resistance.  We have all stared at obstacles that seemed too big to ever get beyond them and wondered how God's plans would play out.  Often times, we choose a completely different goal, or path forward, or just plain give up, because we don't see how God is going to do what He originally said.  In the message this week, Paul shows us that it isn't God's plan that suffers, it is just our understanding of it.  He appeals back to the prophet Elijah who thought for sure that he was about to die and all hope for Israel would die with him.  Instead God informed him that there were 7,000 others who had not bowed to a false god named Ba'al.  Even though Elijah saw only his own loneliness and hardship, God had been behind the scenes preparing the next move forward!  Paul says that if Israel's hardships still produce God's desired results, how much more will their eventual fulness produce?!  If God can still work in your hardest moments, just think how much better it will be when the hardship passes!  Come and receive encouragement to keep moving forward this Sunday as we see that the people of God's promises are never cast away!