Sermons from The Water's Edge

Better Advice: We will face more than we can handle on our own, but never more than Jesus can overcome. Putting God in a sentence doesn’t automatically make the sentence something God said. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. -John 16:33

Better Advice: Our hearts can mislead us. Following Jesus’ truth over our own, His way over ours, and His will over our desires leads us to something better. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

20 Years of The Water's EdgeAgain Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables.-Mark 4:1-21. WE live in community like Jesus2. WE serve and give like Jesus3. WE invite people to Jesus4. WE make room for...

“Whatever you do, work at it will all of your heart, as if working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” – Colossians 3:23-24 Depending on the task at hand, the person we’re doing it for, and our motivation for getting it done, our approach and effort to our work can be greatly imp...

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | Game Shows: A Fun Month ProductionSpur Each Other on Toward Love and Good Deeds - Hebrews 10:24 God never meant for us to follow Jesus on our own. We all need lifelines: people to encourage, challenge, remind us of what is true, and help us keep moving forward.

Wheel of Fortune | Game Shows: A Fun Month Production You can’t control where someone else’s wheel lands—but you can choose who you will be when it does."Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the...

Deal or No Deal | Game Shows: A Fun Month Production The risk is vulnerability. The reward is genuine community. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. -James 5:16 The greatest risk isn’t being known. It’s never letting yourself be known.

Grace is God being enough in the places where we are not. Each time He said, “My grace is enough for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 Enough is Found When: 1. We admit we aren’t enough on our own. 2. We believe God’s grace is enough for us. 3. We decide to rely on God’s...

Faith is trusting that God is still writing, even when all you can see is wreckage. The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss....

One of the most compelling ways to share the gospel story is to share your story.1. I Don’t Have All The Answers 2. It’s Going To Be Awkward 3. They Might Reject Me “I don’t know whether He is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”-John 9:25

Everyone worships something, and what we worship eventually writes the story of our lives. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. -Acts 17:24–25 Idolatry is giving first place to somethin...

God's grace is writing a story that includes all of us. He saw the heavens open and something like a sheet lowered down by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”Surely not, Lord! Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do n...

Your past may explain where you've been, but it doesn't get to define where Jesus is taking you. Ananias left and went into the house where Saul was staying. Ananias placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus has sent me. He is the same one who appeared to you along the road. He wants you to be able to see and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” -Acts 9:17 The darkness...

We all have an important role to play in the story God is writing. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. -Mark 10:45Christian service is not about proving our worth to Jesus; it is about reflecting the love we have received from Jesus.

Some of God’s greatest plot twists begin as interruptions to our ordinary routines. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. -Acts 2:42Preoccupation rarely makes us unkind; it usually just makes us unavailable.

The Holy Spirit can write a better story for your life than you could on your own. How the Holy Spirit Works in Us1. Presence 2. Power 3. Guidance 4. TransformationHow We Engage with The Holy SpiritAsk – Read – Listen And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.2 Corinthians 3:18

This is the start of our new sermon series, "The Rest of the Story," in which, over the next 9 weeks, we will go through Acts together. We'll discover that Acts is not just the rest of the story. It's the beginning of ours. ________ Waiting on God is not wasted time when we stay open to what God is forming in us. He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the...

Jesus does not meet our failure with shame. He meets us with grace, restoration, and a next step. Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. – John 21:4-6

What feels insufficient in our hands becomes enough in the hands of Jesus. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed tothose who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. John 6:11

Jesus often meets us in the places where we feel tired, empty, and ordinary—and he calls us to trust Him there.“Jesus, show me where to throw my net.”

Jesus is always speaking. The question is whether we are becoming the kind of people who can hear Him, receive Him, and bear fruit. "Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times." -Mark 4:8 What kind of soil are you offering Jesus right now?

We do not become more like Jesus by accident. We become more like Him by introducing small, intentional habits that change us over time. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. -1 Timothy 4:8

Lasting change doesn’t happen by trying harder to change behavior, but by staying connected to Jesus so He can transform us from the inside out. Lessons from Yellow Lights1. A yellow light is a warning before the drift becomes the direction. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? -Mark 8:36 2. A yellow light is connection before correction. I have told you thes...

If we want to become new, we have to confront the old habits that have been forming us. Real change starts by stopping what keeps us stuck. 1. What Red Light habits and patterns are present in your life? 2. How can God and I make progress on this?

Early in the morning, the women went to the tomb. The story of Jesus had reached a DEAD END.But the stone was rolled away...The tomb was empty. Why do you look for the living among the dead? What felt like the end wasn't the end at all. He is Risen!