Foothills Church (Video)

How many of you like to go to Costco and enjoy the little samples that they hand out? My youngest son, Noah, loves the samples. That kid will ask to participate in a three-hour errand run if he knows that Costco is one of the stops. Stores that do the little tastes are geniuses, aren't they? They give you a little bite and then tell you where the whole product or meal can be purchased. I know some...

I have been part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance from that first Sunday at church with my buddy right up to now. It's been a no-brainer for me because the Alliance is anchored in Jesus and an unswerving belief that everything we need is found in the provision of Christ. A.B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, used the phrase "Fourfold Gospel" to describe who Ch...

Welcome to the conclusion of our series Angels and Demons. In our last session together we affirmed that God and his holy angels have an enemy. He is the devil and he has some number of angels with him who also rebelled against God's authority. The devil and his angels are created beings so they are always and forever under the authority of the Creator. In their supreme pride and arrogance, the de...

Welcome to week 4 of our series Angels and Demons. Today we begin our exploration of the dark side of the angel world-the devil and his angels. Since we know from the Bible that God created absolutely everything we can see and can't see, and we know that it was all very good, we deduce that Satan, who fell sometime between the end of creation (when all was pronounced good) and the temptation of Ad...

In the opening 2 sessions of our series we examined the types of angels we read about in the Bible and we surveyed the kinds of things they do in the heavenly realms. This week I want us to take a look at what angels can do in our lives. When we survey the Bible we learn that God uses angels in our earthly experience of life in a number of ways. For example...

As I mentioned last week one of the more unique, and interesting angel-type appearances which occurs several times in Genesis and other times throughout the Old Testament, is the appearance of "The angel of the LORD." Literally the angel of "Yahweh." But this angel is also referred to as "The Lord," "God," simply "angel," and even "a man." So, who is he really? What is he really? Let's look togeth...

There are many misconceptions put forth regarding the evil spirit world. Some people give the Devil and his minions too much credit. In the midst of these realities in the culture around us, we cannot skeptically ignore everything related to angels and demons nor can we gullibly believe everything we see or read about in the popular media. To accurately understand angels and demons we can't gain a...

Our big take away from this synagogue synopsis of Jesus' anointing was that Jesus' anointing is our calling. We, as the church- those touched and being transformed by Jesus-are called to carry on his ministry with those around us. It's a positive refreshing message of grace, and hope...shared (splashed) on others one life at a time...in the power of the Spirit. It has been said that there are no p...

On May 10, 1869, crews from the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads converged at Promontory Summit in northwest Utah. Their purpose was to connect their two railroads into the first transcontinental railroad. You might think the key to their success was skilled engineering, cartography, and a detailed blueprint. But you'd be wrong. They certainly had incredibly skilled engineering. They ha...

Today we are bringing a close to our series Malachi: Debating with God. Over the course of these last 5 weeks we have gotten a front row seat to 5 debates between the nation of Israel and God. Right from the get go we learned that the nation of Israel was struggling. They have just been released from their exile in Babylon, they have rebuilt the temple and they were expecting the Messiah. They wer...

Friends there may be some of you who are sitting in this worship center or in the venues that are in the same predicament of Israel. You have been beaten, crushed, by the waves of life. Addiction and past habits tossed and turned you and this whole time you've been pulled by the current of this culture and have been spit out onto the shore, and you have just come to the realization that you are ya...

The people of God in Malachis day had watched God do a miracle in allowing them to come back to rebuild the Temple and work miracles to help them rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. They people renewed their covenant with their God, as the sacrificial system was restored. When those things happened their expectations and hopes for the miraculous appearing of the messiah were stirred to a fever pit...

What God is pointing out in our debate today is that the way we treat people matters to him. There is a connection between our relationship with him and our relationships with others. We cannot compartmentalize. This means that our faithfulness or lack thereof, in our relationships with others directly impacts our faithfulness to God. So, when we love the people around us well, it reveals that we...

God after establishing his love for Israel transitions the debate from that about Love to that of Theology. Throughout the rest of Chapter 1 and the first 9 verses of chapter 2 we see God and Israel debate theology. Before we engage in this debate over theology it is important for us to have an understanding of what I mean when I state theology. Formally, the study of theology is defined as a set...

Have you ever found yourself debating with God? Questioning him? I know many of you have lost loved ones, even recently. Often times the grieving process is made up of us questioning God looking for answers. Some of you are currently going through rough times as I speak, you have just been diagnosed with cancer, or are jobless after years and years of applying for different positions. Have you eve...

Today we look at our third conversation with God, when Jesus talks with Simon Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Unlike the previous conversations where Jesus spoke with strangers, this scene has some important back-story that we need to look at first. As we look back at the life of Peter, I hope communicate to you that we don't have to be superhuman to be disciples of Christ. Peter was on...

Today we want to look at John 4 and eavesdrop on a conversation between Jesus and a woman as they sit by a well in the middle of Samaria. So, open your bibles to John 4. If you don't have a bible, feel free to grab one from the below the chair near you, put your name in it and make it your own. Bring it with you each week because it's your handbook for knowing and walking with God.

Today we begin a three-week series we're calling: Conversations with Christ. We are going to be looking at three extended conversations Jesus has with three different individuals that I believe each of us we will see ourselves in. Today we're going to listen in on Jesus conversation with Nicodemus. Spiritual darkness keeps people from seeing how to get to heaven. John 3:1-2 Nick comes at night. Ma...

Over the past 6 months or so, as our staff has been praying through the prayer requests that have come in from Sundays, we have been moved by the myriad of requests for all sorts of healing-mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. In addition, I have had a number of conversations with folks around our church who have carrying God sized burdens where they desperately need God to work a miracle, b...

King David, Israel's greatest king wrote, "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain" (Ps. 127:1). As it goes for the home, so it goes for the country. Some of you will naturally want to make this a political sermon, and you will listen to it with the bias of your own personal political views. Instead of tha...

Now today, I want us to close off our time in this letter by going back to it's opening and a prayer that Paul prays for these Colossian believers. I thought exploring this prayer would be a meaningful way to wrap this series up together because it has become a prayer that I pray for myself, for our staff and ministry leaders and at times, I have found it fitting for opportunities for private pray...

We've been saying that just as caterpillars have the DNA of butterflies long before they can fly, so to Christians have godly DNA and the Spirit empowers a growth in them so that they can mature into who they are in Christ. Practically this means that people who know you but haven't seen you in awhile when they run into you, they will notice that you are different than when they were around you be...

Welcome to our 2014 Annual meeting and celebration. Before we take care of the more formal and legal matters as a church together, I want to briefly share with you what God laid on my heart for us this morning, as we stop and take stock in what God has brought us through this past year and what he seems to be leading us to this next year. If you have your Bibles with you turn to Mark 8. Leading up...

Today we take another step in our series that I'm calling "Christ-Centered Freedom." So far we have been breaking down Christ-centered freedom into some smaller components. We are to use our freedom in Christ to keep at the change process because God's energy is zealously and actively re-creating us-at work in us to change our will and affect our actions in order to fulfill His good purposes. As P...

Last week Brian reminded us that just as the caterpillar has all of the DNA inside it to be a fully developed butterfly, so it is with us. "God has given us the DNA of complete and full godliness." In Christ we have been given the gift of his righteousness, nothing we do can make us more righteous or cause God to love us any more. This morning we get to look at the process of putting on the new se...