Grace Church Southern Pines

July 28, 2025 Core Team Meeting 2025 Every year our core team gathers to hear our Lead Pastor, ryan peterson share church updates, God's vision for Grace Church to renew 10 cities, and expand on the 6 areas of influence to fill the city with Jesus. —— Stay Connected Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp Grace Church Instagram: @gra...

08-03-25 We call Jesus “Lord, Lord” but often still live like we’re in charge. We make our own plans, chase our own dreams, and ask God to bless our will instead of submitting to His. We treat Jesus like a great Rabbi with helpful advice, but not as KYRIOS—Master, Owner, Supreme Authority. Jesus taught that many will be surprised on judgement day because they picked and chose good works without fu...

07-27-25 “What is truth?” Humanity has pondered this question for thousands of years, and it has puzzled even the most brilliant thinkers of human history. It’s a question that sparks both intense debate and intense longing. It’s not just philosophical; it’s deeply human. Sometimes we feel as if life raises more questions than it answers. However, God’s word has much to say about truth. Jesus taug...

07-20-25 Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. From the dawn of creation, God knew humanity would stray from Him and face evil. The incredible news is that through His grace and boundless love, God ensured we wouldn’t have to endure this separation forever. Before time even began, Jesus made promises and provided for us, anticipating our every need. And God,...

07-13-25 Jesus is our savior and redeemer. Because Jesus has saved us from our sins, we can live a changed life. We can walk in the newness of life. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines newness of life as “ the new state (of moral life) in which the Holy Spirit places us, Romans 7:6 When we think of superheroes we think of someone that intervenes in life threatening situations and rescues someone from i...

07-06-25 This message explores the reality that many of us live in invisible “prisons”—fear, shame, addiction, self-reliance, or emotional wounds—that shape how we think, act, and relate to God. In these places of struggle, we often respond in one of two ways: spiral in despair or strive in our own strength. But the deeper invitation is to ask, “Who is God?” and learn to walk by faith, not by sigh...

06-29-2025 Jesus once said that He was the “way, the truth, and the life.” In this second week of our series titled, “Who Is Jesus?”, we dive a little deeper, considering how “Jesus Is The Way.” Are you more likely to choose His way or your own way? Are you too busy to follow Him when He offers? Are you susceptible to acting based on fear rather than faith? The Scriptures say that apart from Jesus...

06-22-25 As we continue pressing into City Renewal, we are beginning a summer series that explores the question, “Who Is Jesus?” This week we will examine an excerpt from Mark 8, where we see that the people in Jesus’ city had similar reactions to Him as the people in our city today. And we’ll address the most important question of all, “ Who is Jesus to you? ” How we answer this question has deep...

06-15-25 Comfort is killing our courage. The book of Nehemiah describes a massive transition that he went through from the comfort of the palace into the thick of the challenges of rebuilding. Nehemiah left the complacent yet lush culture of being an assistant to the King of Persia and went to a desolate city in ruins, all because he wept over what God put in his heart. The church finds itself in...

06-08-25 During this Baptism Weekend we’re looking at Acts 8, which tells the story of an unexpected encounter between Philip, an Ethiopian diplomat, and the Holy Spirit. To this point in the diplomat’s life, he’s never been welcomed into the inner circles of worship. But during this life-changing chariot ride, he learns that there is nothing about him that disqualifies him from relationship with...

06-01-25 In the fast-paced, calendar-driven world in which we live, it is imperative that Jesus’ followers intentionally leverage creative ways and means to engage our cities. And sometimes the creativity required is simply a “reset”—a “back to the basics” mentality that boldly declares that there is no law against loving our families, neighbors, co-workers, employers, and employees well with the...

05-25-25 Revival is in the air. It’s not only being talked about, we are seeing it across the nation. A desire and genuine hunger for the things of God in people’s lives are being stirred up. This revival that’s coming, which we are seeing glimpses of, is unlike what we have encountered before. It’s not characterized by mass gatherings but by decentralized, scattered pockets showing up in cities,...

05-18-25 This week, Pastor Ben Goodman emphasizes the critical importance of understanding our identity and purpose and that God’s answers to the fundamental questions of “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” are paramount. As we walk through Scripture, examining God’s relationship with humanity, we see that God created us for good works, owns us, and that He is absolutely singular: an all-wise God who...

05-11-25 Daniel says the people who know their God will be strong and carry out great exploits. We say that we are all called to do great exploits by living out our destiny, but our destiny is not realized until we know our identity. We cannot live out our identity or our destiny until our hearts are healed. Your heart is the filter through which all of life comes in and out. That’s why Solomon sa...

05-04-25 The renewal of 10 cities comes from revival in our hearts. We are continuing to explore what it looks like for us to do good works, great exploits. Instead of just focusing on the action, the doing, and the exploits in our city, we are focused on our foundation–our identity. What good is knowing our destiny and purpose without having the identity to carry it out? Jesus taught his disciple...

04-27-25 We have a city full of amazing people who hold the very image of God within them. Because these same human beings are so very familiar to us, we might just miss the depth of glory and beauty that is within them. The solution that God has been giving since Genesis is through identity. God gives us our identity in a few different ways: by speaking to us through His Word, through the communi...

04-20-25 It’s a great time of year when new life springs from the ground and from the trees, but let’s not forget that it comes after a season of being dormant, buried, and often dead. We love new life, new things, and birthing the next, but God never skips over the process that He set up at the beginning; that life doesn’t come until after death. There is no resurrection without death, and there...

04-24-25 The title of this message is more than just a title, it is a serious and sobering question that all must face at some point in our lives. When you understand the true worth of something, you’ll give up anything to have more of it. In Matthew 26:6-16, we see three different evaluations of Jesus’s worth – three different kinds of devotion, and only one of them was acceptable and pleasing to...

04-06-25 We’re entering a new era where God is inviting believers to go mobile, integrating faith into all life areas—family, education, business, government, medicine, and media. This movement requires not just willingness but a deep, heart-level transformation that aligns our core with God’s intentions. This heart-level transformation requires healthy nourishment for our souls, but we often inge...

03-30-25 In this great new Era that we are in, as a generation that sits on the edge of our seats in hopeful anticipation of what God is doing, we hear the cry to be prepared. This is not just a new year, a new season, or a new month, it’s a new Era in which God is intentionally preparing His people to increase His presence. The deepest desire of our heart is to abide in the Presence of God. That...

03-23-25 Imagine your life completely free from worry and anxiety.  Free from fear and insecurity. Free from anger and unforgiveness. This is the “you” that God intended for you to be. Nothing in your mind, body, or soul was meant to work well when weighed down by these things. Rather, every cell in your body was created to live in peace and joy. When you, as a Jesus-follower, actually live in the...

03-16-25 What if the timing of when you were born was sovereignly ordained, by a God who is present and powerful, for the purpose of setting you up to do good works that will help form the atmosphere of a city? What if the place where you live and work and play is all sovereignly orchestrated by God? What if the very place you call your city is missing a crucial element to be fully complete and ex...

03-09-25 We are finishing up our time in the book of Joshua. Reading the story of Joshua has allowed us time to seek the Lord and hear the Word from our Father that He's spoken over our lives. You have a Joshua call, an assignment, a mantle to pick up for your city just as he did for Israel. Although we are finishing the book of Joshua, this is only the beginning of our City Renewal focus: de...

03-02-25 We are continuing in the City Renewal Series as we see God’s desire to bring His will and His heart to the people in their place of influence. This week, we are in chapters 11 and 12 of the book of Joshua. As we have read through Joshua, we are seeing him strengthen himself in the Lord, pick up the assignment God gives him, cross obstacles that are in the way of his journey, and obtain th...

02-23-25 In our reading of the book of Joshua, Israel has defeated Jericho and Ai, and now 4 kings are gathering their forces to try to defeat the Israelites, keeping them from possessing the land, but God has a plan. Know this: God has a promised land, and a plan, for you as well. Your part is to believe: believe God, believe in the calling, believe in the promise. But we can easily become connec...