Grace Church Sermons

Big Idea- Monitor the condition of your own heart more than you monitor the behavior of others.     Three-part Journey Toward Avoiding Hypocrisy    Embrace your need to be spiritually clean (:1-5)   Behavior modification won’t bring Christ-exalting change to your life (:6-13)    4 ways behavior modification undermines true spiritual maturity.   Behavior modification confuses man-made rules with Go...

Big Idea: Jesus is easy to miss.     Jesus fed the 5000 after His disciples returned from being sent out. (6:30-44)  Jesus responded to the crowds with compassion, (6:34) unlike the disciples who showed irritation. (6:35-37)  He cared for the crowd (6:38-44; Numbers 27:15-17) as the Great Shepherd (Psalm 23:1) by feeding them in the echo of the Prophet Elisha. (2 Kings 4:42-44)    Ask yourself: Ho...

Big Idea: is Pain is often for your growth or God’s glory.     Causes of our Suffering and Pain  We live in a fallen world.   Self-inflicted.   Caught in the backwash.     5 Biblical Insights on Suffering  All Christians will suffer.  God doesn’t cause all suffering, but he allows it.  Suffering isn’t the only way to grow spiritually, but it is an important way.   We long to know the purpose in ou...

Big Idea: In Christ you become most fully yourself.  Me must make the shift from a societal sexual ethic to a sanctified sexual ethic.   Two Ways our Identity in Christ Shapes our Sexuality  1. We place God’s Authority over the Sovereignty of Self. (4:1-2)   Your identity is established by who God says you are and your self-worth comes from being found in Christ as an adopted son or daughter.    ...

Big idea: In Christ you become most fully yourself.  God’s Dream for One New Humanity.  Galatians 2:11-14  The Problem with our Gospel It’s Incomplete It’s highly individualized.  In light of our Identity in Christ, how should we approach issues of race?  Next Steps  The habit of Incarnational listening.  Leave your world.  Enter into someone else’s world.  Allow yourself to be formed by others. ...

Big idea: In Christ you become most fully yourself.  Where does our Identity in Christ leave us politically?   We are Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven first. - Philippians 3:20; Mark 12:13-17,  We are Members of a Global Multi-Ethnic Church. - Revelation 7:9-10 We are Ambassadors of Christ to the World - Matthew 5:16; 2 Corinthians 5:20 Creative options for political engagement.  Daniel Option. ...

Big Idea: In Christ you become most fully yourself.  The Traditional View:  Your identity is assigned to you by your role in the community and your sense of worth comes from how well you discharge your duties.  The Modern View:  Your identity is revealed through self-discovery and your self-worth comes from fully embracing your true self.  The Christian view:   Your identity is established by who...

What is one word that describes your life right now?  The Resurrection and the Possibility of New Life.  New life starts with a willingness to step out of hiding (19:38-42)  New life begins with small steps of faith (20:1-17)  New life recognizes no narrative is too broken for God to redeem (20:18-22)  Next step Visit www.whoisgrace.com/next, choose ‘salvation,’ and tell us that you’ve taken a ste...

The Tears of Jesus and His Palm Sunday Intentions    He rode in as Messiah.   Zechariah 9:9     He rode in as a revolutionary (:41-42)   Luke 13:34     Lessons in Responding to the King  Don’t get so focused on temporary relief that you miss eternal salvation (:36-40)   Jesus is after loyalty and not just lip service (:36-40)   Beware of the future consequences for rejecting Jesus (:43-44).   Next...

Big Idea: You have been called and sent. Three critical resources for living on mission:  Calling  Partnerships  Spiritual Authority  How to Live Out Your Kingdom calling Learn to depend on God alone (:8-9)  Find people who are receptive to the gospel (:10-11).  Don’t just say stuff, do stuff (:12-13)  Categories of calling  Natural Affinity Groups.  Local Community Needs.  People Groups in Need....

Big Idea: walking with Jesus will always include disparaging critics.  Some Lessons in Dealing with Critics  Following Jesus will always be offensive to some (6:1, 3) Don’t be paralyzed in insecurity by critics (:2-3a) Just because someone is familiar with Jesus doesn’t mean they follow Jesus. (:3b-4) Jesus won’t work where he’s not wanted (:5-6) How to Guard Against Unbelief 1. Guard against Fina...

Big Idea: Jesus wants to lead us from fear to faith. Context: Theme: Son of God/ Son of Man Literary Markan “sandwich” A Study in Perspectives: Character Profile: Jairus Status: Community Leader Circumstances: 12-year-old daughter is close to death Perspective: fear of death, desperate, urgent Character Profile: Disciples Status: followers of Rabbi Jesus Circumstances: witnesses to His ministry Pe...

Big idea: there are people in your life who need to hear your faith story.  Three Reflections from today’s text:  When Jesus redeems your life, you have a story to tell (:19)  Start by telling your story to those closest to you (:19)  You do the job of telling and let Jesus do the job of saving (7:31)  Next Step.  Call to mind one face and name:  Pray two things.  That their heart would be open to...

Get caught up at www.whoisgrace.com/mark  Four themes  Son of God/ Son of Man  Cosmic Conflict Discipleship Failure  Ordinary Heroes  Big Idea: Jesus uses storms to demonstrate his greatness.  Setting the Scene (:35-36).    Surviving Storms with Jesus Some storms can’t be avoided (:37)  Storms can tempt us to abandon our faith (:38)  God uses storms… (:39-41)  To demonstrate His power (:39).  To d...

Big idea: As an embedded influencer, I understand how God has purposefully gifted and positioned me to multiply His work in the world.  John 20:19-22  Reminders from this passage  Wherever you are, you’ve been sent there by God (:21)  You have the Holy Spirit to empower you (:22)  4 Root Idols.  Power: a longing for influence or recognition.  Control: a longing to have everything go according to m...

Mission statement: Following Jesus as we live out God’s story every day everywhere.  Dream Disciple  Compassionate Storyteller Savvy Follower Intentional Friend Embedded Influencer.  Big Idea – As an intentional friend, I will build healthy relationships and help God restore broken ones. Why friendship is so important. You were made for friendships (John 15:9-15) Friendships are a vehicle for miss...

Dream disciple.  Compassionate Storyteller Savvy Follower Intentional Friend Embedded Influencer.  Big idea:  As a Savvy Follower I will discern God’s voice and follow his lead at the right time in the right way. Savvy= wise, thoughtful, sensible.  Spiritually savvy = having the perspective of God on the inside and then allowing it to shape what happens through you on the outside.  3 Declarations...

Mission: following Jesus as we live out God’s story every day, everywhere.    Dream Disciple: Compassionate Storyteller: I know God’s story, my place in it, and am motivated to tell the people in my life.  The Metanarrative of the Bible Creation | Fall | Redemption | Mission | Restoration. 3 Truths about Your Story Every Christian has a gospel story to tell.  It’s hard for people to argue with you...

Some Shifts in our Church Remodel:  Less attraction more mission.  Less big more small.  Less new more old.  Less telling more training.  Less counting attendance more counting discipleship outcomes. Less slick more authentic.  Less performance more presence.  Less noise more space.  Less solo more family.  Why Change?  The Internal Problem: We’ve replaced discipleship with assimilation. The exter...

Distraction = the temptation to give the focus and energy needed for something highly important to something that is often quite insignificant. Big idea: This year let’s normalize stillness, and neglect distraction. 3 Marks of an Undistracted Faith. 1. When you receive from Jesus first, you can serve others properly. 2. When you’re distracted from Jesus, your generosity will turn into resentment....

4 Truths about Getting Close to God.     God’s desire is for you to be close to Him (Jeremiah 24:7)   You sabotage closeness with God by hiding (Genesis 3:8-10)   God doesn’t force you, He invites you (Revelation 3:15-17; 20)   You can be close to God by drawing near to Him (James 4:8)      Next step:  Prioritize God in your life by creating one daily spiritual habit.    Find additional resources...

Big Idea: Invite the light of Christ into your family this Christmas.     The perfect outfit for a peaceful family Christmas. PUT ON:    Compassion: a deep sensitivity to the needs and sorrows of others.   Kindness: the action that arises out of empathy.   Humility: the noble choice to use your status and influence for the good of others.  Meekness: all your emotional faculties under control. Pati...

Big idea: Invite the light of Christ into your EXPECTATIONS this Christmas.     What is Biblical hope? The confident expectation that God will fulfill His promises.     4 Lessons on biblical hope from Zechariah and Elizabeth:     Where you place your hope will determine how you live your life (:6)   The bigger the problem, the greater the opportunity for hope (:7)   Just because God is silent does...

Big Idea: Invite the light of Christ to your emotions this Christmas    Runaway emotions   Insecurity   Guilt   Anger   Sadness.     Isaiah 9:1-7    Four Titles that Bring True Joy  1. Wonderful Counselor  Make an appointment with the wonderful counselor to identify your runaway emotions this Christmas.     2. Mighty God   Find time to immerse yourself in the mightiness of God this Christmas.    ...