1. The worries of this life.
   • If your attention is on the worries of this life it’s because you’ve taken your eyes off Christ. The birds and lilies trust God, and so should we.
2. The lure of wealth
   • If your focus is on power and wealth, it will eventually take your loyalty from God. That’s why it is INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God.

Generous IRL – Week 4

Have you ever felt unqualified, unworthy, or unloved? Ever been in a place in life where you truly felt like a fish out of water? The funny thing is, some, or maybe many of you, feel that way. As we talk this month about being Generous IRL many of us think, yeah, right…like God could do anything with this.

I am out of place,  Surely not me. But you know as I have searched the Scriptures, and read some of the amazing stories of some of those amazing people whom God raised up to do extraordinary works and yes, that includes people who were Generous IR and then as I look closer I think, them?  You chose them? 

And God simply answers…yeah…I did.  Isn’t that cool?

Because, you see God has this way of grabbing hold of the most unlikely, unqualified, unworthy people and stirring their hearts, and the next thing you know we have a story of a person who walked in faith of God and God did something amazing through them. Hebrews 11:31 mentions one of them and lets us know what she had going on in her life that would have brought brokenness in general, but also in society’s eyes…she was an outcast.  Shunned by the good people of the land, unless they needed her services.

Who is it? Rahab and here is what it says about her.

Hebrews 11:31

³¹ It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

If you don’t know her entire story you might wonder, what exactly did she do, and why is she on this list of great people, and especially with that job title?

In the book of James, we find another mention of her that also makes her sound impressive in how she lived out her life of faith.

James, the Brother of Jesus says this:

James 2:25

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

Based on these two mentions of her in the New Testament part of the Bible…Rahab is…

Rahab is:

• A woman of faith
• Generous
• Righteous in what she did
• A prostitute.

As we walk through Joshua Chapter 2 we will get a better idea of what Rahab’s faith accomplished.

Did you like this message, Generous IRL – Week 4? Check out more of our Sunday teachings here.

  

Kingdom Freedom – Week 2

There is one goal for this message and it’s an invitation. I want all of us who call ourselves Christians to make a commitment to the Church. Recommit your life to the Church, prioritize it, to sacrifice for it. Why? Because without it, very few of us would have ever become Christians and those of us who did become Christians, wouldn’t have stayed that way.

My whole life I’ve heard people say, “Oh, church is old school. I don’t need church to be a Christian.” And there’s a little truth in both of those statements. The problem is, that person is almost always wrong. They almost always end up losing connection with God and run back to the church to reconnect. Christians who don’t make church a priority have two problems.

Dangers of trying to be a Christian apart from the Church:

1. De-conversion
2. Ineffectiveness

So today I want to make the case that these relationships (relationships with God and with people) actually help us grow. They help us become the people God created us to be.

Acts 12:5-7
While Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. 6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.

When we are in trouble, when we’re in pain, we need the church! There’s going to be a time in our life when you’re going to be alone or in pain, and you’re going to desperately want someone to help you, to be there with you. When everything seems good, we’re tempted to point fingers and judge people. But when we’re in chains, it’s hard to point fingers. When things get bad, we just hope and pray that people we judged will come to our rescue.

We like to point fingers at people who are in chains, but at some point, we’re all going to be in chains. So get this: The chains had to fall off of Peter first! Peter was in chains, and HE needed to be set free. Jesus said,

Matthew 7:5
Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

Make a commitment to take a next step in deepening your connection to the Church. Make a commitment to come to other Christians when you’re burdened and to support other Christians when they are burdened. Join a Life Group, volunteer, start tithing, take a step.

Did you like this message, Freedom Kingdom – Week 2? Check out more of our Sunday teachings here.

In this teaching, Jesus. Week 9, we hear Pastor Mike talk about when Jesus healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath.

Most people complain about things in their lives that they’re not actually willing to change. I’m overweight. I’m poor. I’m depressed. I’m lonely. I’m childless. So ask yourself:

Would I actually like to get well?

I don’t want to be stressed anymore, but I can’t give up Netflix. I don’t want to be addicted, but I also don’t want to give it up.

So when Jesus asked the guy at the Pool of Bethesda “would you like to get well?” the guy gave an excuse (John 5:7). I’m not sure this man was open to hearing about other possible ways to be healed. He had one idea of how the healing would go, and Jesus’ way was different.

So what is your excuse?

We all do it: “I believe God heals marriages, but not mine. I’m done with my marriage.” “I believe God heals addictions, but I kinda like mine.” “I believe in tithing, but here’s why I don’t tithe. I’m different.”

God’s promise of salvation isn’t that He’ll forgive your sins and then leave you screwed up and broken. Jesus wants to make you whole.

A terrible idea that is destroying lives right now is the idea that people don’t change. It’s not Biblical. It’s not logical, and it’s incredibly depressing. You’re not stuck the way you are, but here’s the problem:

You can’t change yourself. You need God. He’s the creator, the owner. If your goal is to be rich, you might get rich, but you’ll be miserable. If your goal is to get sober, you’ll be sober and depressed. Seek God first, and He’ll give you what you need.

JESUS. WEEK 9 TEACHING TEXT

John 5:1-18

Jesus Heals a Lame Man

5 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. ² Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda,^[a] with five covered porches. ³ Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.^[b] 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

⁷ “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

⁸ Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

⁹ Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, ¹⁰ so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.

¹³ The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. ¹⁴ But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God

¹⁶ So the Jewish leaders began harassing^[c] Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. ¹⁷ But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” ¹⁸ So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

Did you like this message, Jesus. – Week 9? Check out more of our Sunday teachings here.

In this teaching, we hear from Pastor Mike as he talks about faith and how God’s not like us. He wants us to be faithful, and the only way we can be effective in our mission is to be faithful, but because we can’t stay faithful to Him. He was faithful for us, and the literal Good New is:

Our faith in God’s faithfulness is enough.

We cheated on God, and He says, you can’t fix the relationship by doing better. The only way you can be made right is with faith. Legalism says be holy THEN God will be faithful, that’s not the gospel.

Faith is the root. Faithfulness is the fruit.

Faith in God produces faithfulness to God. It changes us and makes us productive, but if there’s no faith, there’s no root, and what happens to a tree with no roots? It dies and doesn’t produce fruit. So what does faith look like?

No Shave November Week 2 Teaching Text

Galatians 3:23-29

God’s Children through Faith

²³ Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.

²⁴ Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. ²⁵ And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

²⁶ For you are all children^[a] of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.^[b] 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile,^[c] slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children^[d] of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Did you like this message, No Shave November Week 2? Check out more of our Sunday teachings here.