Grace for New Life

We need to receive favor from God to have hope when facing the big challenges of life. But what do we do when our circumstances threaten to crush us and it seems like all favor has left us? We continue to have faith in God, for the assurance of His favor is not our actions or circumstances but God’s actions and His promises to us and God is never closer to us than when we need Him most.

Human beauty, accomplishments or special occasions can be joyous, even glorious occasions. But that human glory is fleeting and it fades away. Seeing God’s glory gives us the assurance that God is with us, that he will never leave us nor forsake us and that, with God, in the end, everything is going to be alright. Jesus’s divine glory was revealed as he hung on the cross to give us all those promi...

In those times when we are confronted with what we have done wrong, we can become overwhelmed with guilt. But Jesus, God the Son, was born and baptized to become one of us so he could pay the full cost of cleansing us from all our sin. Through Baptism, Jesus makes us beloved, forgiven children of God who greatly please our Heavenly Father.

Sometimes we put God in a box and think that he cannot be for us because of our faults, failures and weaknesses. But the wise men who visited Jesus when he was a small child show us that God is for us and for all people.

There are times in life when it seems like the really important things are being taken away from us. But we need to remember where we are in the new story that God has given to us through Jesus. Jesus has not only given us a new, rich, full, abundant life with him, he has also promised to come back to this world to restore us and all things, and nothing can take that away from us. Therefore we hav...

Fear is what rises up inside of us when we live in uncertain times & the things we value are at risk of being lost. But Jesus gave us a great treasure which can never be lost when he came to bring heaven to us. Therefore we have courage.

All of us have times when we find ourselves in the middle of a mess. But the Good News of Christmas is that Jesus came to not only save us from our messes, He came to safe us for a life with Him that will last forever. Today's podcast contains a personal story of how God did that in one person's life.

All of feel fear when we face an overwhelming task. But God has given us the unconditional promise of his presence. When we admit our own inadequacy, we are then able to receive the promise of God’s presence with us and move forward, not in our own strength, but in God’s strength.

Fear is not something that we can avoid. But we need to have a game plan for dealing with fear or our fears will drive us to make decisions that we will later regret. The remedy to fear is courage and the foundation for courage is a sure and certain hope. In this time leading up to Christmas, we remember that God came to give us hope.

Thirty years of blessings in our church testify to the love, mercy and grace of God. Because, through Jesus, he has set us free, we continue to share the message of life, salvation and forgiveness that he has given us.

As we open ourselves up to receive more of God’s love, we are better able to love others more fully. By focusing our love on those whom God has placed closest to us, God’s love will flow through us and others throughout our homes, community and region and around the world.

None of us are getting out of this life alive. But how can we live our one and only lives in a way that will result in us having no regrets when we come to the end of our life? Jesus will help us to live in a continual state of repentance. Resting in His forgiveness and letting Him live His life through us will result in no regrets with our selves.

Tough times can drain our hope. But there is more going on in reality than what we can sense with our physical senses. The sure and certain promise of glorious worship in the presence of God with countless others encourages us to faithfully endure hardships and share with others the hope we have been given.

The introduction of the internet has made it possible to easily spread fabricated stories around the world. When we share fake news, we undermine our personal credibility, making it less likely that a skeptic will believe us when we share the Good News with them. The Good News of God's love motivates us to be prudent in what we share.

Unlike happiness, joy is not an emotion that is dependent upon circumstances. Joy is deeper and more durable than happiness because it is a resilient rejoicing rooted in the comforting presence of the One who has overcome all things. Making a practice of trusting in Jesus results in contentment, peace and joy in our lives.

We may desire to follow God, but our following is always partial and imperfect. The Good News is that Jesus has not only rescued us and brought us into God’s family as a free gift, He has also given us the Holy Spirit Who helps us to turn away from evil, produces supernatural fruit in our lives, and encourages us to believe that our new identity in Jesus is actually true, which it is.

The thought of starting to dance with God can be intimidating. “I don’t know how to do it. I have no confidence in my abilities. This is going to be awkward and embarrassing,” we may think to ourselves. But God’s gracious love is big enough to wash over and fill all our weaknesses and insecurities.

Sometimes we can take for granted what God has done for us. But a big picture view of the universe and the Bible helps us to see that what God did and does is amazing!

The default strategy for human beings is to try to live life on our own. But eventually we come to the end of ourselves and realize that that does not work. Jesus invites us to follow him and his teaching, and he will give us rest.

The things that Jesus said in the Bible are sometimes presented as one-line zingers intended to shore up our broken and hurting lives. But those one-liners come from a larger story which is also important for us as we seek to grow in faith, hope and love. Listen to what many consider the best sermon ever, the Sermon on the Mount, and let Jesus' words wash over you and lift you up. (Mt. 5-7).

God is able to take a great loss and turn it into something positive for many people. This is a special message about how God did that through a mission outreach to Africa.

From time to time, we do silly, even embarassing, things. But God, in His great love for us, continues to woo us in the hope that we will return to Him, our source of life, love, hope and forgiveness.

Without the unconditional love that we need, we develop a false persona to try to get others to love us. But it is all false, and we never have peace or love inside us. Through Jesus, God has come close, connected with and chosen us so we can be confident in His love.

When we lack intimacy in our relationship with God, we miss out on living life with peace, hope and resilience. Jesus is inviting us to receive more of God’s love in the deepest part of our soul so that we, and others, feel both safe and loved.

While we struggle to understand if God is who we want Him to be, God has been faithfully loving humanity since before time began. When we open our hearts and minds to His love, we can see evidence of God’s faithful love throughout history. We see that faithful love shines most clearly when Jesus came to personally rescue us and bring us into the freedom of abundant life with Him.