BRAVE Church

This chapter is simply a preview of what is to come in our worship. Many times, we become cavalier in our worship and need to be reminded of its importance in our daily lives as we prepare to meet the Lord. A study in Revelation 4 causes us to be overwhelmed by God and His character as we prepare to meet Him. Regardless of how we view God, our view certainly is not big enough. As you listen to thi...

The uniqueness to this letter was that it was the only church where no strengths were mentioned. This lukewarm body of believers had made the Lord nauseous because of their lethargy and complacency. They didn't care that Jesus Christ was prominent in their church even though he was standing outside the church knocking on the door. While this church received no commendation, Jesus was still trying...

The church in Sardis had a reputation for being alive but God said it was a dead church. The church in Philadelphia, on the other hand, had little power but God declared it faithful and strong in the Lord. Studying these churches in the book of Revelation provides insight for how God is leading His church and what He values. Not only should we be serving in a life-giving church, but we should be l...

This week we studied the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira in chapter 2 of the book of Revelation. Both of these churches were strong in some areas but ultimately suffered in a similar fashion due to false teaching from within. In Pergamum, they were rebuked for some who held to the teaching of Balaam and others who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. In Thyatira they tolerated the teaching o...

After a quick overview of the seven churches that we will be addressing we spent some time discussing the structure in each of the letters. These six items can prove helpful in our interpretation of the Scriptures. We began our study by looking at the first two churches. First, we studied the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a strong church who had become performance-driven rather than living in the...

Many people still have a picture of Jesus that depicts Him as meek and mild and soft. As we discussed the vision of Jesus Christ spelled out in Revelation 1:9-20 we were alerted to the fact that Jesus is the all-powerful king of kings and lord of lords. Having a true picture of Jesus Christ readies us for His coming and prepares our heart to love Him even more. May God's Word grow you in your purs...

Why Teach Revelation? With so many people in the body of Christ who have become jaded, confused, frustrated and divisive over the content of the book, why should it be studied? To answer this question, we read and unpacked the first 8 verses of this great book and discovered 5 reasons why this book was worth studying. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub

Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub

From the creation of the world to the cradle which held our LORD, God has had a purpose and a plan. The more we know and understand about the Word of God the more we understand about our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. In discussing the birth of Christ, we learned four qualities of being a disciple that prove helpful. As you spend time listening to the message and reading the questions, may the Spir...

Even though we often do not understand all that God is doing we certainly know that He had a plan from the very beginning. In Genesis we see that God had a plan from Noah's son, Shem, to bring about Abram who would become the Father of the nation of Israel. God chose Abram and Sarai, even though they were unlikely choices. He made a covenant with Abram that He would bless Him and make his name gre...

God's desire for His image-bearers was to multiply on the earth so that His glory could be seen in all of His world. Unfortunately, sin in the heart of man created a desire for them to stay in one place to build a city, worship who and what they wanted and to expand their own greatness. Even though the people rebelled against God, He demonstrated His miraculous grace. Rather than punishing His peo...

After 377 days on the ark, Noah and the other seven survivors were now responsible for moving forward. Therefore, God provided instruction for how they were to live and what they were to prioritize. In Genesis 9 we see the character of God, the sinfulness of man and how God expects his image-bearers to live. Understanding the character of God then helps us understand how to live now the way he wou...

Genesis 7 and 8 tell of God's complete destruction of the world through a global flood. Prior to Noah there was never a global flood and after Noah God promised there would never be another global flood again. God is true to His Word and while there have been local floods there has never been another global flood. God promised that He would give 120 years for man to repent and yet only Noah and hi...

Sometimes we have difficulty understanding the full character of God because we have only heard of an aspect of His nature rather than the entire story. Some Christians falsely believe that God's love means that you can do whatever you want and there is no consequence. Others falsely teach that just one sin will land you hell and every day you must stand on alert ready to repent or face His wrath....

In this message we compare and contrast the genealogical lines of Cain and Seth. It's not uncommon for people to skip or skim this text but God writes His Word to us because He has a message for us to understand. This week as we studied the text we saw the differences in the posterity of families based upon who the men were in the family tree. We discovered several interesting facts and learned wh...

For many of us even when we know the answers to the questions we are being asked we are uncomfortable with people prying into our lives. This week's four question quiz was an opportunity for all of us to allow the LORD to help evaluate our worship of Him. This is important for us to understand because the worship of the LORD Jesus Christ is paramount to our relationship with God and brings us the...

There are three problems with sin that demonstrate our need for a Savior. In Genesis 3 we learned that although God created a perfect world and a made human beings the crown of His creation (image-bearers) both Adam and Eve sinned. This sin changed our relationship with God, one another, and the world He created. Since we can't hide, avoid punishment or save ourselves we are in great need of mercy...

Genesis chapter 3 highlights the fall of mankind by showing how Adam and Even listened to the voice of satan rather than being obedient to LORD God. Our LORD God created a perfect world to be inhabited by human beings who would bear His image; however, when sin entered the world everything changed. Our relationship with God and others is now contaminated by sin causing all sorts of problems includ...

Genesis 2:4-25 shows more from God's perspective of His creation on Day 6. God not only made the earth a unique planet to be inhabited but created human beings as the crown of all of His creation. Although the earth was wonderfully made, it was not complete until God had human beings placed on the earth to accomplish His work. We also learned about the beauty of marriage and God's design for deep...

In this message we will study the opening narrative in our Bible. Pastor Jeff will attempt to ask and answer three specific questions: First, Who created the universe? Second, How was the universe created? Third, Do you believe this? In an attempt to answer these questions, we read the entire passage from Genesis 1:1-2:3 and then began to allow Scripture to help us search for answers. By simply al...

The first message in our Alpha and Omega series helps us understand how God established the world and how He plans to restore the world in the future. Because these topics have been deemed controversial, many Christians have not taken the time to explore and believe the truths found in the first 11 chapters of the Bible. However, God makes His Word clear and therefore it remains imperative that we...

In the great commandment of Matthew 22, what we see is that all of scripture finds it's fulfillment through our love for God and our love for others. God desires our lives to be fully devoted to Him, that we would have an abiding relationship with God. From that abiding relationship, we would then pour that out and love those who are around us. Jesus tells us to go out and make disciples, and so o...

Throughout history, we have seen generations ebb and flow in their faith and even have entire generations, such as the judges 2 generation that did not know the Lord. That will not be our story here at BRAVE. We want to invest in the next generation and not experience generational faith drift. As you listen to this sermon, pay attention to the ways that the Israelites missed the mark and ask the q...

When we see the landscape of our culture and ask the question, "What in the world is going on?", that is a signal that God is wanting to gain our attention. As Christians, we may wrongly think that God is simply upset at non-believers and is ready to punish them, but the fact remains that He cares so much about us as His children that He wants our hearts to be completely centered on Him. As you li...

As Israel transitioned their leadership from Moses to Joshua, Moses encouraged the entire assembly of Israel as well as Joshua to be strong and courageous. The reason for this confidence stemmed from the fact that it was the Lord who was going before them, would be with them, and had a perfect track record of faithfulness. In our lives today, the Lord is the One whom we can trust as we set our hea...