“Adversity strips away all of our half hearted commitments and beliefs, exposing what we honestly want to hold onto.”
What are you holding onto, that’s holding you back?
What does it mean to be called a Christian today? We live in a time when the term Christian has become one of the most unclear descriptors in the English language. Many people today are willing to say, “I am a Christian” but would never consider saying that they are “disciples” of Jesus Christ. They are merely cultural Christians. Sometimes I wonder, if people were to look at us and our church and evaluate us today, what nickname would they give us?
As we look at a long section of Scripture today, we will see how that God is methodically moving Peter to see that the gospel is for everyone—not just the Jewish elite. In His sovereignty, God moves Peter from one situation to the next, opening his heart to ‘the Nations’ and releasing a lifetime of bigotry and prejudice. It is sometimes hard for us to imagine the Apostle Peter as bigoted or prejudiced, but we must consider who he is within his cultural context and the Jewish people looked down upon the Gentiles. In this passage, God uses a series of events to open Peter’s eyes to the simple truth that the gospel “is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile” (Romans 1:16b). So it is time for us to ask, “When will we get beyond our prejudice, our misconceptions and our elitism and be willing to seek after all people with the gospel?”
Lecture 6 – Have you ever told your child to do something and then—an hour later when you ask if it is completed—your child tells you, “I forgot.” Do you remember the level of frustration you felt as a result? If you have ever experienced that, then you have seen a glimpse of what God must have felt as He was dealing with His children—the Israelites! What does it mean to say that Israel forgot the Lord? To say that the Israelites ‘forgot’ God is to say that they no longer were controlled by what they knew. Even though they knew who God was and what he wanted, those things were not real to them.
Part 1- It is amazing to see what motivation can do in a person’s life! In this message, we’re going to take a few minutes to think about the motivation for the gospel in Acts 8. We will pick up this story with the persecution of believers in the church at Jerusalem. Because of this intense time of persecution, all of the believers (not including the apostles) left Jerusalem looking for safer places to live. As they went, they shared the good news about Jesus. This passage tells us the story of Philip and his experiences in the city of Samaria.
In prayer, we must focus on: Receiving God’s Word as truth; Believing God’s Word; Exhibiting unity among believers; Remaining faithful to God; Being protected from the devil; Being sanctified by the Word; Being sent into the world.
Grace Hills was started by Brandon and Angie Cox in the summer of 2011 with a handful of people meeting in a rented office in Bentonville. Our grand opening to the public was January 12, 2012 at the Rogers Malco Town Cinema and in January of 2015, we moved to the…
Sometimes we have to hit bottom and hit it hard before we can truly say that we love. If your life was perfect, Then what would you need Jesus for?
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT)
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Sermon Video, Audio and Text at http://www.templerogers.org/sermons/gods-hidden-treasure/
Sermon – Growing the Church through the Spirit
Living According to Christ’s Standard, Serving According to Giftedness, Growing the Individual to Grow the Church
What excuses are you making for not living your life ‘all-in’ for Jesus Christ?
Sermon Video, Audio, Text included at http://www.templerogers.org/sermons/growing-the-ch…pirit-sermon-7