Grace Sagola Church

Sometimes the influences of evil forces are obvious, however more often than not it goes quite undetected in today's world.  Indeed the "father of deception" has made is such that if we do not have a biblical foundation for the influence of evil we will unwillingly make many missteps in our approach to spiritual warfare. 

When we face a sinful and broken world without the resources of God’s grace through Christ, we will inevitably end up relying upon our own abilities, schemes, thoughts, and designs for self-preservation.  The debt that this process incurs in our souls is a plague of anxiety and worry: two toxic thought patterns that will lead us into further brokenness and sin. 

Without biblical instruction, the church has looked to the world in our processing of grief.  But when grieving from a biblical perspective is ignored it is also then replaced with regret, resentment, substance abuse, or worse.  In our pursuit for navigating the soul we will see that God has given us a model to follow by learning to lament. 

The subject of transformation is the critical doorway that all believers must walk through. However, we can only accept God's new creation of our lives once we've first dealt honestly with sin. We will see that God has provided us more than just an answer for forgiveness, but through His Son we are offered an entirely new life!

The subject of depression is a primary category in mental health that affects everyone to one degree or another.  We will see that God's Word addresses this "sniffle of the soul" head-on, and teaches us to reframe what we dwell upon, who we listen to, and pursuing God as our greatest desire. 

The church has been silent too long on the subject and integration of mental health. Where the world has mistakenly addressed the issue as too one-dimensional, the church has also failed to respond with any comprehensive treatments that are rigorously Biblical and spiritual.  The reality is everyone's soul is in need of healing, and Jesus is the central answer for navigating the soul. 

The world around us is utterly broken.  God's good and beautiful creation has been subjected to the curse, and because of this we see brokenness in all spheres and in all contexts.  It is only an assured hope in God as the impartial judge that provides us with a confidence in His deliverance for His own. 

The warnings given for sin are clear from the scriptures. However, we too often consider these consequences as applying to someone else as we compare ourselves with people who we know are worse than us. The reality is, all of us are guilty of sin and deserve the consequences of those sins.

The requirement of a right standing with God can only come from God Himself, and can only be accessed by us through faith.  Nowhere is this more clearly seen than when we evaluate the transformed life to what used to be.  This new "living faith" is born out of a trust and confidence in God's promises that moves us towards obedience and love. 

There is an unnoticed danger in our lives.  It is an evil that has crept in has convinced us that it isn't a threat.  The danger is the deception that comes from our own hearts.  In a world fixated on pursuing and achieving your hearts desire, we need to take a step back and ask, "Does my heart even know what is best for me?" 

There's a perception that the only place where injustice exists is in society at large, and we can easily forget that without care, it can creep into the church as well.  However, it is rarely a quick onset.  Unforeseen injustice is often a slow series of errors that reek of the hallmark from our enemy's strategy. 

Although we know God to be righteous and perfect and that there is no one greater than Him, we don't exactly live like we believe that is true.  If we really believed it, might we not order our lives around God differently?

The stories for Mary and Joseph would change forever with the announcement from the angels. Their response to God's interruption should serve as a model for how we respond when God changes our plans as well.

The magic of Christmas is regularly celebrated with family and friends and all the reminders of God's love shown to us in the giving of his Son.  However, the real wonder of God's gift is only ever truly appreciated when we're reminded that God sent His Son while we were still in darkness still in rebellion and basically not even looking for God's Messiah.  The greatest wonder is that He still off...

Jesus as the Messiah is a treasure worth searching for.  The story of Jesus’ 1st Jerusalem visit is met with a prophetic pronouncement of God’s sovereign provision for a light to the Gentiles.  This One prophesied as a branch from Jesse will be a banner for all peoples. 

The contrast between the kings from the East and king Herod couldn't be more drastic.  We will see that it is their perspective on power and authority that will determine how they respond to the birth of the King of kings. 

"your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

The Apostle Paul in closing his first letter to the Thessalonians reveals God’s will for us in adopting an attitude of Christlike thanksgiving. Today we’ll discover how our thankfulness should continue to point us and others to Jesus.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose”

God has called his followers to pattern their lives after His desires and will.  This obedience onto holiness is most easily seen in how we treat ourselves and each other when it comes to sexual purity.  And it begins by knowing God.

Our world has us trained to think God's will is only and always for our happiness.  But discerning God's will is contingent on our willingness to lay down our lives, rights, and pursuits and replace them with Jesus.  Only then will God's will become clear. 

One of the realities that we don't often think of with missions is God's mission from the perspective of its ever increasingly conclusion.  Jesus promised to return, and His delay is not without warrant.  God's is presently exercising His patience with us. 

When we think of worship, do we consider it an essential part of our lives?  Has our Christian culture taught us that worship is only something that happens when we sing, or at church?  In order to fully know God's will, we must understand that worship is something we do with our entire life. 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.