A Sure Hope

In today's message, we'll join Gideon as he meets with God in a powerful way. He witnesses a miracle as he comes to the Lord's table in communion! Pastor Dave tells us that we too need to spend time intimately with God, letting it remind us of the cross. In that time of remembrance, we'll find God's unrivaled power!

God has plans for each one of us, plans to change people and share truth with the world! When He calls us to our specific task, though, we may have doubts. Pastor Dave today reminds us that it's ok to ask God to confirm His plans for us! We can ask Him to give us peace about our calling, and to reinforce His Word!

We sometimes think that the mighty Biblical figures we study are super-human or possess unattainable character. This isn't the case, however, and Pastor Dave will point that out with Gideon, a judge over Israel. Gideon was afraid, and even questioned God's motives and methods, but God still used Him to do incredible things!

In times of crisis, it might be hard to see God working. Pastor Dave tells us today that we need to instead be reminded of how God's worked in the past! He's always been faithful, to us and others throughout history! His love also never waivers, and will be enough to get us through any and all circumstances!

Sometimes God needs to break into our lives and correct something we're doing wrong. It isn't because He doesn't love us – in fact, it's BECAUSE He loves us! Pastor Dave shares today that God's chastisement is meant to bring us back to Him, correcting our course and reminding us of our need for a Savior!

Today Pastor Dave shares a song of celebration, and words of praise for all God did to deliver the Israelites from their latest captivity. This includes sharing the story of Jael's conquest over an enemy. Though her actions didn't follow the accepted social practices, she honored God, and was called blessed because of it!

We might think that worship is meant to benefit God, but in today's message, Pastor Dave shares that it's actually more for us! We grow as we lift our voices in praise to God! Our worship comes in response to all we see in creation, and all the love and grace we now live in thanks to Jesus death and resurrection!

When God has something that needs to be done, He'll use whoever He can to accomplish it! It could be us, but if we're not willing, God will turn to others. In today's message, Pastor Dave encourages us to live with an openness to God and His perfect timing, and a willingness to do whatever He asks of us!

God wants us to repent of our sins, but He wants it to be real! When we come to Him in sorrow over our sin, we need to not just say the words, but take the steps necessary to turn away from whatever we've done. Pastor Dave reminds us through the story of the Israelites today that true repentance comes from the heart!

The Bible reminds us in its stories that God uses ordinary people to accomplish His will; all He’s looking for is someone who will trust Him to use them. Pastor Dave is reminding us that God hasn’t changed how He does things. God is looking for people just like us to achieve His goals in today’s world, too – we just have to trust Him.

The Israelites kept needing deliverers – judges – because they were expecting a leader to provide a surrogate relationship with God. They should have been seeking Him themselves but they didn’t want to until they got in trouble. Pastor Dave is reminding us and warning us to seek God for ourselves – that’s the only way to stay close to Him.

God allowed the nations surrounding Israel to remain as a challenge to see if they would continue to trust Him or follow other gods. Pastor Dave teaches us that they failed the test. He is also trying to show us that this story relates to Christians today; we have been presented with the same challenge.

In the book of Judges God makes it clear that the Gentile countries were there to test Israel, to see if they would continue to follow Him or go and serve other gods. Pastor Dave tells us that in the story they broke away from God. This is a warning to us as well – if we aren’t careful, our choices will lead us away from God.

The book of Judges tells us that the descendants of the original Jewish inhabitants of Canaan turned away from God because they hadn’t been taught about Him. Pastor Dave reminds us that if we don’t teach our children about God and Jesus, there’s a good chance that we’ll see our children turn away from God as well.

After entering the Promised Land, the Israelites did okay in following God. But after Joshua died, they went way off the rails. Pastor Dave is teaching from the book of Judges where we’ll learn just how far off the path the Israelites got, and how this is an appropriate warning for us to avoid the same traps that snared the Jews.

What are we keeping back from God? In today's message from Pastor Dave, he teaches us to go all in with Christ. To hold nothing back from Him. He has knowledge of everything, so there's nothing we should try to hide from Him. We don't want anything left on the table. Let's Go all in with Christ!

How do we live a victorious life? In today's message from Pastor Dave, we learn that the victorious Christian life, is a gift that is given through God's grace. We possess this abundant life, not by our achievements, but by submitting to The Holy Spirit and walking in obedience to God. Faith, is what leads to abundance!

Do you ever feel like you've reached a plateau in your walk with God? In today's message from Pastor Dave, he challenges us to be persistent in our walk, and warns us about complacency. We need to constantly seek and search for Him, so that even in the valleys we are growing and seeing the wonder of The Lord!

Working for salvation will always end in failure. In Today's message from Pastor Dave, we learn that working and relying on ourselves, will never earn us the deep spiritual blessings God has for us. Belief and trust in Jesus Christ, is the only way we can ever receive salvation. Not by our own good merits, but His!

To be victorious as Christians, it's important to read and study the Word of God. Today, Pastor Dave encourages us to be in God's Word. God's Word, is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. His Word reveals to us His love, guides us on how to walk in godliness, and teaches us about our Savior, Jesus!

Pastor Dave will be teaching on the aftermath of Israel’s failure. He will be sharing about how once Israel cleansed their camp of its sin, God gave them victory again. Pastor Dave will be showing how in the same way, as we allow God to cleanse us from our sin, we will begin to see victory in our lives as well.

As Christians, we are acutely aware of when we sin. Sometimes, the most difficult thing to do is to recover from our fall. Pastor Dave will continue teaching from the book of Joshua, dealing with the sin of Achan, God’s judgment, Israel’s defeat, and God’s prescription for fixing the problem of sin in their camp.

In this message, Pastor Dave will be teaching on one of Israel’s defeats, how it happened and how Israel fixed the problem. In the same way, we need to take note of what Israel did wrong and how one man’s sin can impact the whole community. Also, we will learn what it takes to make things right.

As followers of Christ, we often want to be used by God to further His Kingdom. However, we often don’t want to be prepared for His use. Pastor Dave will be teaching on the story of the destruction of Jericho. He’ll be telling us about what the Israelites had to go through first before they could be victorious.

To be victorious as Christians, it's important to read and study the Word of God. Today, Pastor Dave encourages us to be in God's Word. God's Word, is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. His Word reveals to us His love, guides us on how to walk in godliness, and teaches us about our Savior, Jesus!