Grace Church Sermons

Big idea: Bringing your doubts to God can propel you toward faith.     How Bring your Doubts to God  Deconstruct your Doubts (:3)   Immerse yourself in a faith community (:15-17)   Compare the sturdiness of your beliefs to the world’s beliefs (:18-20)  Grasp for God’s hand (:21-28)    Next Step:  To take a step of faith visit, www.whoisgrace.com/next and choose “salvation”     For supporting mater...

Praying Through GUILT  5/21/2023 | Pastor Derek | Psalm 51      Big Idea: Bringing your guilt to God moves you out of your past and into your future.   Failed strategies for dealing with guilt:   Denial.   Comparisons.   Rationalization.   Blame   Reinventing God .   The Backstory of Psalm 51: 2 Samuel 11-12.   Three heart cries as you pray through GUILT    FORGIVE me (1-6).  CLEANSE me (7-12)   7...

Praying Through PAIN  5/14/2023 | Pastor Derek | Psalm 22    Big Idea – Bringing your pain to God will help you to heal.     Unhealthy Ways to deal with Your Pain.   stuff it.   ignore it.  distract yourself.   isolate.  wait it out.  fake it.      The tension: God seems absent in this moment – AND - I still believe in God in this moment.      How to Pray through Pain     Don’t just ask God for th...

Praying Through FEAR  Psalm 3 | 5/7/2023 | Pastor Derek  Big Idea– Bringing your fears to God will help you sleep better at night.      Considering the Psalms      Some firsts in Psalm 3.   The first psalm to have a heading.   The first Psalm to be attributed to David.   The first psalm to include the historical setting   The first occurrence of ‘selah’   The first psalm of lament.     How to pray...

Big Idea: The Spirit’s greatest role is to remind you of the depth of God’s love.   The Matchless Love of God    God has a protective love for you as his child (8:35a) God’s love is stronger than all calamity (8:35b-36)   God’s love is stronger than everything EMOTIONAL   God’s love is stronger than everything PHYSICAL   God’s love is stronger than everything EARTHLY   God’s love is stronger than...

God is For Us   April 23, 2023 | Pastor Derek | Romans 8:28-34      Correcting 3 Common Misunderstandings from Romans 8:28   It does not promise that a Christians’ circumstances will be better than anyone else’s.   It does not promise that things will automatically work together for good without God.   It is not an invitation to pretend that bad things are actually good.       Big Idea: God doesn’...

Summary Idea:  We desperately need the Holy Spirit living in and through us, so we can be confident in our weakness.        Weakness in the context of this passage is…     The Purpose of the Holy Spirit = Helps Us in Our Weakness  Meaning of the Greek word “ sunantilambano ”  anti – facing each other  lambano – to take or hold something  sun – union, or together with    2 Ways the Spirit Helps you...

Big idea: Because of Christ’s resurrection, you can live with a glorious hope for the future.     Three wrong answers to our present suffering.   Wrong Answer #1 – There is no God.   Wrong Answer #2 – God is not in Control.   Wrong Answer #3 – God is Evil.     Right Answer: Our loving and powerful God is in the middle of redeeming what has been broken.     Three qualities of those who Hope.     Ho...

Big Idea: We desperately need the Holy Spirit living in and through us so we can live like children of God .    Romans 8:14-21  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit tha...

Summary Statement: We desperately need the Holy Spirit living in and through us so we can PLEASE GOD .    Romans 8:9-13  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousne...

Tale of Two Natures.   There are only 2 kinds of people in the world: “according to the flesh” people and “according to the spirit” people.     Big Idea: Living in the spirit begins with a renewed mind.     4 Reasons it Matters Where you ‘Set Your Mind.’     Your life, including your spiritual life, is a product of your thoughts.   Your thoughts will establish lifelong mental patterns.   Every tho...

New Possibilities   Mar 12, 2023 | Pastor Mike| Romans 8:3-4      Big Idea: Only with the Holy Spirit can you achieve God’s standard.      Romans 8:3-4  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who...

March 5, 2023 |Pastor Derek | Romans 8:1-2    Why a 9-week study on Romans 8?   This may be the greatest chapter in Bible.   This chapter offers us a new way of living, not just a new way of believing.   There’s no greater passage in all the Bible on the Holy Spirit   I believe God wants us to study this passage.   4 Big words of Romans.   Sin   Justification   Grace   Sanctification    Summary Id...

Big Idea: We honor God with our faithful spending.    Unhealthy Spenders:   Impulsive spender   Compulsive Spender   Revenge Spender   Boredom Spender   Special Interest Spender   Status spender      5 Areas of Wise Spending (Proverbs 31)   Housing and food (:14-15)   Investing (:16)   Utilities/ Necessities (:18)   Sharing with those in need (:20)   Personal Items and Clothing (:21-22)       Ques...

Big Idea – We honor God with our faithful giving      4 Understandings that Lead to Generosity    When you have EXTRA maybe it’s not for YOU (:16-17)  Your LIFESTYLE doesn’t always need to keep pace with your INCOME (:18-21)   Raise your AWARENESS of Kingdom NEEDS, not just earthly WANTS (:32-33)   Allow your MONEY to lead your HEART into GENEROSITY (:34)       Next Steps:  Sign up for Financial P...

Big Idea: We honor God with our faithful planning.   PROVERBS 21:5; 21:20    | WISE | FOOLISH | Planning ahead | Hasty | Saving (storing up) | Consumeristic (gulping down) | Financial health (profit) | Paycheck to paycheck (poverty)     The 3 Plans of Financial Freedom    Make the decision to plan.   Make a budget plan   3 Easy Steps to Budgeting: Determine your income for the NEXT month  Enter al...

Working   2/5/2023 | Pastor Derek | Colossians 3:22-24     Big Idea – We honor God with our faithful work.  3 ways work benefits you:   It allows you to provide for your family.   It develops your character.   It gives you an outlet for the skills God has entrusted to you.     3 Ways to Connect Your Work to God’s Work      Make every job worshipful (:23a) Whatever you do…   Work hard (:23) work he...

January 29, 2023 | Pastor Derek | Daniel 3    Big Idea: in your devotion, God will bring deliverance.     4 Lessons on Deliverance from the Fiery Furnace  Full devotion can lead you to dangerous places (:19-23)  Sometimes Jesus doesn’t keep you FROM the fire, but meets you IN the fire (:24-27)   Jesus can use the fire to free you from what enslaves you (:24-25)  Your devotion during suffering will...

January 22, 2023 | Pastor Derek | Daniel 3:1-18    Big idea - God is looking for people who will stand tall in obedience.     5 Ingredients of Bold Obedience.    Recognize your idols (:12)     Idol = anything you love, trust, and crave more than God.     4 Root Idols:  Power: a longing for influence or recognition.   Control: a longing to have everything go according to my plan.   Comfort: a longi...

Big Idea: No God-sized problem is too big for God      How to walk through a God-sized problem     Make time to pray (2:17-18)  - Philippians 4:6-7       2. Keep God in focus at all times (2:19-28)      3. Remember which Kingdom you belong to (2:44-45)        Next steps:  Identify a God-sized problem   Make time to pray    Prayer of Response    “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom...

Spiritual Resolve  January 8, 2023 | Pastor Derek | Daniel 1    Big Idea: Choose your kingdom to choose your battles.       4 Temptations of a Godless Society    New Place: ISOLATION   New Knowledge: INDOCTRINATION  New Names: IDENTITY  New Diet: COMPROMISE      4 Choices of Spiritual Resolve    Resist ISOLATION with COMMUNITY  Undermine cultural INDOCTRINATION with God’s TRUTH   Supplant secondar...

Controlling Your Calendar  January 1, 2023 | Pastor Derek | Ephesians 5:15-17     Ephesians 5:15-17  Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.   How to control your calendar   Recognize the power your calendar has on the person you are becoming Pl...

The Returning King December 18, 2022 | Pastor Derek | Revelation 19:11-16 What is Jesus Doing Now?   Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father (Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; Mt 26:64; Eph 1:19-22)  Jesus is at work interceding for us. (Rom 8:34 says; Heb 7:25; I John 2:1-2)  Three things that are absolutely clear about the Returning King (Revelation 19:11-16) There will be a sudden personal, visible, bo...

Risen Savior   December 11, 2022 | Pastor Sarah | 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 19-23, 58    Big Idea: Your Story isn’t finished...     if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain... 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins... 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied...

Perfect Sacrifice December 4, 2022 | Pastor Sarah | Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 10:1-26   Big Idea: Jesus has solved your biggest problem.   For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. - Hebrews...