Gateway Church - MO

The world can be a very dark place. Sometimes, in the darkness, it’s easy to lose hope. But Christmas points us to the hope we can have in Jesus. He came into a world of darkness and was a ray of hope for those who needed it most. He offers that same hope to us today.

Choosing to do the right thing is easy. Doing the right thing is hard. Often we get discouraged when we try to live out our right choices. We start to wonder if it even matters. Haggai tells us yes, it does matter. Your choice to purse Jesus now will not only change your life, but will impact the lives of people you will never meet.

Our modern, busy, overcommitted lives can leave us feeling empty. In fact, the paradox of our time is that our lives are filled with emptiness. But there’s a remedy. The remedy for our empty lives is not to add more things to them but to focus on the one thing that matters: A life of worship aimed at Jesus.

God’s plan, from the very beginning, was that we do life together. As followers of Jesus that means we are in this together. Our faith is not simply a personal faith, it is a shared experience. This calls for us to have an extreme devotion Jesus and to the community of Jesus followers we call home. But with that extreme devotion comes extreme results.

When there is division and conflict within any group, but especially within the church, then it becomes weak and ineffective. If the church is going to transform the world, we must be united in our love for Christ and for each other. Anything short of that is defeat.

We are each made unique. We are each made in the image of God. Individually, that makes us impressive; collectively that makes us unstoppable. When we each use our gifts and work together to create communities of transformed lives, there is nothing we can’t do because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

You were created in the image of God, a masterpiece made for a purpose. And there is only ONE OF YOU. That means you have a reason to be and a purpose to fulfill. It also means that everyone you encounter is a masterpiece created in the image of God. If we are all masterpieces, then we need to treat others like it and we need to act like it. It will change the world.

I will never be complete until I quit trying to complete myself. When I fully surrender to the leadership of Jesus in my life, I find a fully complete life filled with joy and peace and loaded with the potential to change the world.

Doing life ‘my way’ sounds great. But it rarely works out. That’s because you are not your own. You were created by God and you must answer to him for the life you live. The question we each must ask is, “Am I living a life that honors God?”

Sometimes we feel like we are a mistake, like God didn’t know what he was doing when he created us. But the truth is God created us because he loved us, and he created each of us on purpose and for a purpose. When we identify that purpose and begin to live it out, live has a new meaning and becomes an adventure worth exploring.

Loneliness is brutal. We are wired to do life in community and that community starts with a God who will never leave us alone. Regardless of our past, God promises to be with us. We are never along. Whatever you are going though right now, you are not alone. His love is a love that will never abandon you.

Before anyone else knew us, God did. There is nothing in our lives that God doesn't know. Our greatest joys are deepest pains and our darkest secrets are known to Him. And in spite of what he knows about us, he loves us anyway.

Sometimes when you’re having a bad day, you j ust want to go to bed, reset and start over tomorrow. But when it comes to circumstances in our life that don’t go away overnight, how do we start over? Is it possible to start Life over again? We trust in a God who brings life where there is death. When w e see how Jesus was brought back to life, we find hope that there is new life for us if we trust...

We do not have to stay dead in our lives, we can be resurrected when we believe in Jesus.

Sometimes when we take a look at our life and the world around us we might think “How did this happen? And where do I go from here?” In those moments we need a move of God in our life. We need a revival! But how does revival happen? Revival happens when God’s people gather together and pray for God to move in their hearts and in their communities. Just as God promised to heal and restore Israel by...

Sometimes what we hope for seems to die and our hope feels like a distant, unmet promise. When our hope is dead, we need to trust in God. When we trust in Him – even when it seems hopeless – He resurrects our hope.

We have all experienced death in our lives. Whether it is the death of a dream, the death of a relationship, the death our plans, the death of someone we love, or some other form of death, we have all experienced the pain, fear, confusion and loss that comes with death. However, we serve a God who loves – and who specializes – in bringing life where there is death. If we trust Him with our brokenn...

Our culture tells us we need more of us. In western culture, the “self” is the ultimate god. But our “More of Me” culture is destroying us and leaving us emptier and lonelier than ever. The only remedy for our “more of me” culture is to kill the king of me. I must die to myself to have a life that is truly worth living.

Our culture tells us we need to be busy. We need to do more, we need to experience more, we need to expect more. We only have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week, but with modern technology we can cram more into that limited time than ever before. But what if that’s killing us? What if God never intended for us to live 24/7 lives? The remedy for our overworked under-rested lives is Sabbath. God...

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11b-13

SUFFERING IS TEMPORARY AND DEATH DOES NOT HAVE THE FINAL WORD.  WHEN WE HAVE FAITH IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS WE MOVE FROM SORROW TO JOY

We all experience bitterness in some form and we hate the way it feels. If left unchecked it drains life from us and the people we interact with. Bitterness is our internal response to our personal pain. We find healing from our bitterness when we follow God’s example and allow God to heal our heart. When we choose to give our pain to God instead of dealing with it ourselves, we will truly find th...

The pathway from fear to peace is one that requires a change of perspective. When we focus on the size of our problem, we can be overwhelmed by fear. When we choose to focus on the size of our God, our perspective changes and our problems are less overwhelming in view of a God who is greater than all our fears. Worship is how we change our perspective.

Listen to Dr. Devon Smith our district superintendent for the Tri-State District. He breaks down what it means to be a Christian and a church that God wants you to be.