This weekend we are celebrating Easter. We are celebrating Christ's victory over death on the cross, because he didn't stay dead. He rose again. He defeated it. He is still alive today. So, now if we are "in Christ" to too can have victory over death and sin and have a relationship with God. But, why JUST through Jesus Christ? Why is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven? ...

Last week we started a blog series about Jesus' parable of the four soils. If you missed part one, you can READ IT HERE. We learned about the soft soil and the deep soil, and how that relates to having a soft heart and deep roots. Then Jesus talks about a third kind of soil. 3. Jesus says, "Some seeds fall among weeds and thorns." Now, this part of the story involves s...

Matthew 13:18-23 "Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer sowing grain: The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the Good News about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts. The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But like yo...

Matthew 13:1-9 Later that same day, Jesus left the house and went down to the shore, where an immense crowd soon gathered. He got into a boat, where he sat and taught as the people listened on the shore. He told many stories such as this one: "A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and at...

Reaching out is important. Ourreaching out is important to our heavenly Father who gave up the very best that he had the life of his Son to buy back the human race that, for some reason known only to him, he loved so much. It's more important than you and I can imagine that we devote ourselves to reaching out. Fully devoted followers of Jesus reach out and develop sig...

I want to talk about what it's like to be like Jesus with people who are far from God. Here are some characteristics of Christ reaching out to others, using different parts of the body. We can ask ourselves each of these questions to see if our lives are aligned with Jesus. Does my heart CARE ABOUT what God's heart cares about? I believe the most important problem whe...

John 17:4 (NLT) "I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do." I want you to be able to say that when you get to heaven. You completed the work that God gave you to do. Jesus was faithful in fulfilling His service. He didn't give up. He didn't give in. He was persistent. You may retire from your job someday, but you're never retiring from...

Yesterday we talked about serving like Jesus. And to serve like Jesus, you have to be available. To serve like Jesus also means being grateful. To serve like Jesus, we have to serve gratefully, grateful that we get the opportunity to serve. The Bible tells us a story in John Chapter 11 of Jesus serving in an incredible way. His friend Lazarus had died, and He went there,...

Matthew 20:28 (NLT) "For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others." A lot of people spend so much of their time searching for self-esteem, for self-worth, and significance. They want to feel good about themselves. But they're looking in all the wrong places! You don't get your self-worth from success, because there's always somebody else w...

If you've been married longer than a day you know that every single marriage has conflict. There are just some things you're never going to see eye to eye about. You're never going to agree on everything. A big reason God has given us a spouse is so we would look through a different set of lenses. Sometimes it's because of our background, sometimes it's just because of o...