828 Church

Stories shape your character  What Where When Who  30 second cliff notes - you probably know the story but I won’t assume God tells Jonah to go tell some violent people to repent or God will destroy them Jonah gets in a boat and runs away He gets eaten by a big fish He gets spit up, then decides to obey The people repent and are not destroyed Jonah 1:1-2 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of A...

“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? Ezekiel 33:10-11 NLT The...

Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans t...

Many years later King Belshazzar gave a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking the wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver cups that his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. He wanted to drink from them with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. Daniel 5:1-2 NLT So they brought these gold cup...

King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs, How mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation. Daniel 4:1-3 ESV  I, Nebuchadnezzar, was liv...

When the people of God adopt the lost and broken culture of the world, everyone loses.  There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand… Daniel 2:10 ESV No one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.  Daniel 2:11 ESV When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion. Daniel 2:14 N...

Babylon - Living with conviction in a world that’s lost its way  The book of Daniel gives us a roadmap for faithfully following God in a fallen culture.  In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. Daniel 1:1 ESV And...

The LORD has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything. Psalm 103:19 NLT Is the Kingdom coming a reference to moment on the timeline, or a reference to eternity? Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or on...

Jesus willingly walked to his own crucifixion, knowing His Kingly coronation would be the cross! It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed...

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and...

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 NLT There is no life like the life we find in Jesus, and that’s the gospel truth.  Life Giving The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have...

We won’t get to heaven and wish we had saved more, but rather that we could have given more away. If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Mark 16:24-25 NLT  You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your so...

Jesus didn’t come to condemn or condone, He came to save, set free. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. Revelation 22:17 NLT There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” h...

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.  John 15:12 NLT Because of Jesus we don’t have to believe the enemies lies or live lost, and that’s the gospel.  Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15 ESV Thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor.15:57 NLT Jesus wills to bring salvation t...

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NKJV Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five cove...

Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long wa...

Reach - To stretch out an arm in a specified direction in order to touch or grasp something. You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 NLT Reaching for the creation over the creator will leave you chasing plea...

The most significant move of God is move He made for each of us.  Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “GOD is in this place, truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.” Genesis 28:16-17 MSG The revelation that God is real and that He’s with us, is one of life’s most important discoverie...

Closeness is a choice and God already made His.  How good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Psalm 73:28 NLT  To know God as He is meant to be known, is to choose to prioritize His presence. It was Moses’ practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the camp. And everyone who wanted t...

What our world needs more than anything, save a sovereign move of God, is people who will live their lives surrendered to Him.  I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go…” Isaiah 6:8-9 ESV Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and...

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1 KJV In order to participate in a move of God, you have to be willing to move with God. A man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to...

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11-13 NKJV  I can grow in my relationship with God! The bible is not a se...

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of N...

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:13-16 NLT When God is God to...