Grace Sagola Church

Sometimes life doesn't go according to plan... at least that's the way it looks to us. One of the greatest comforts that we can find as Christians is to remember that even when it looks like things are going awry, God is still in control. 

One of the most difficult things within Christianity is trusting Jesus when we're so used to living according to the "rules" of our world. When Jesus says "follow me" we know that obedience could lead directly to persecution and rejection.

The source of our service for our communities must be Jesus.  Because God has modeled for us what it looks like to serve the "least of these" - we must learn to follow in His steps.

It's sometimes too easy for us to compartmentalize our faith according to certain societal norms and standards - Jesus always challenges those!  Even though the widow or orphan may go unseen by our would - our Heavenly Father sees them and encourages us to see like He does!

God has commissioned Christians as His hands and feet to serve as His ambassadors-of-reconciliation to the world.  While it's often easier to simply "mind our own business" in this world - Jesus is mobilizing His people to love our neighbors in accordance with our love for God. 

Grace is unique to Christianity, and grace is dependent upon the resurrection of Jesus. God has validated our Savior's life and death as sufficient in the complete victory over sin and death, and He now invites us to live under that fulfillment - to live under grace. 

Sin is devious & infectious and will ultimately lead us to death.  Yet, we are called and equipped by God, through Jesus Christ, to put a stop to the rule of sin in our lives.  Although sin will continue to show up, it ought no longer control us as a master. 

The Spirit of God provides the Christian with both the accountability and power to fight against sin.  Because the death of Christ has freed all those who identify in Him from a slavery to sin, there becomes therefore not only an expectation to battle the enemy of sin but additionally the scriptures also give us God's strategy. 

The heart behind stewardship must be defined by our understanding of who we are serving.  God's ultimate goal in our practice of becoming good stewards is not merely bound up in the benefits that it will bring to us; biblical stewardship is actually fostering a new kind of humanity.  When we manage what God has given us according to the scriptures, we will end up modeling our lives after the chara...

How should a Christian practice generosity? Does the Bible require us to pay God 10 percent?  It is only to the church that God expects us to give?  These questions, and more are addressed in God's Word to help the Christian excel in generosity. 

God has designed his followers to serve as agents of change for His Kingdom.  This is most often challenged at our workplaces. It is the Christian's duty to exchange their employer, such that we begin working for God, even while working at work. 

The use of our time is a continual decision of priorities.  We only have a finite resource of minutes and hours - how we use them will reveal where our greatest treasures and values lay.  Dividing up the time we have and offering it in worship to God will by necessity characterize our stewardship as "living for Christ". 

God has given us so much more than we need or deserve! His design is to bless us that we might be a blessing to others.  Not only has God made this principe of reciprocity a key element of His Covenants, but He has actually woven it into the very nature of His Creation! 

The church is designed by God to represent Him; to wear His name on our chest as use the energy and ability He gave us - we are therefore representatives of God.  Because of this we must make sure our work in this world is done under the banner of blessing others in the name of Jesus our Lord. 

When we attempt to understand God's design for the time given to us, we must begin by looking at His nature.  Because when we understand who God is, we will also see who we are. Stewarding time will require and awareness of God's judgement over our sin leading to consequences for our life. 

The subtlety of the control of riches in our lives often goes unnoticed.  It's not until generosity comes in conflict with self-preservation that we are faced with a decision: follow God's leading and trust His provision, or rely on ourselves, our savings, and our supply. 

The challenge in our modern world is an artificial division between the sacred and the secular when it comes to work.  However, what God has established for man through work all belongs to Him. Our stewardship of work will be defined through the community of God. 

One of the greatest potential failures for under-evaluation in a prosperous culture is the idea of stewardship.  Because the rich have a perceived lack of dependance on God for meeting their material needs, they will easily confuse stewardship with ownership.  We must be careful to remember that God has only temporarily entrusted us with earthly treasures. 

The Magi demonstrate a sort of observance and obedience that is shocking to most of us.  Their worship of Jesus is founded upon who Jesus is, and their gifts to him produce a unique challenge for us as we too worship Jesus at Christmas. 

Our picture of Christmastime has affected some of the terms, titles and themes that belong to Jesus.  When Matthew ascribes to the newborn the prophecy of "Immanuel" he does so from a unique historical context that might help us in our worship of the incarnated Christ.

The church is in a war.  If you follow Jesus you are being hunted, and our enemy is relentless. Often times the greatest victory of our adversary isn't very obvious, and unless we are prepared for battle, it's very likely that we will either completely miss or misplace the attacks.

The most important subsection of the church is the family.  In fact, the family is the most fundamental unit of all of society - this is why it is under constant attack by the forces of evil.  In Christlike fashion, the answer to such an attack isn't in kind, but rather victory is won with Godly submission. 

"Having the eyes of your heart enlightened" means we can no longer live in the dark.  Through Jesus, God has given His people an illumination of truth so that we are shown the path of a life characterized by righteousness.

God has given us an agent of change, a helper to renew and direct us as we grow: the Holy Spirit.  It is this Spirit that resurrects our spirit and can then serve to reorient our minds and thoughts onto service and submission to God's will and purpose. 

The church is designed by God to serve with a multidimensionality that benefits the whole and honors the Head.  No one part is greater than another, and yet it is so easy to miss the purpose of diversity that it can accidentally lead to division.  Only when each part serves the Head will we be truly unified.