GraceLife Sarasota

COVID-19 is changing things for us. The life we were comfortable with is getting disrupted, even destroyed. This can cause the human heart to turn to fear, hopelessness, crisis of faith… even feelings of desperation. Yet desperation, as scary and painful as it is, can drive us back to reliance on Heavenly Dad. Our desperation offers an opportunity to restore an intimate connection with Heavenly Da...

Dealing with the reality of evil in this world is much like what we have been facing with COVID-19 these last few weeks. We know it’s there; we know it’s real, but honestly, we aren’t equipped to know all that’s going on around us. We can take precautions, but in the end, we aren’t powerful enough to see it all, or control it completely. This degree of uncertain reality is what causes unrest and a...

Is there something you fear that would make you act irrationally? Fear is one of the most intense emotions we can face as humans. It’s the moment all our senses come alive. Your pastor is extremely claustrophobic. I mean it’s bad for me. The thought of being in a small space is terrifying. My heart races, I hyperventilate, and panic. I remember a simulation ride at Universal; I made them stop it a...

Have you ever wondered why we go to church? What exactly is the draw for you? Some people go for what they can get, the programs, the youth ministry, a preacher you like, or the music. But for those that are good soil, there’s a much bigger, more captivating force that draws us together. For us, church isn’t just a gathering, an institution providing services, it’s a massive movement inspiring sac...

It's hard to express the burden I feel with the responsibility of teaching truths like in today’s parable. Important concepts, but I know many won’t be very exciting, and I worry I won’t make it compelling enough. It would be easy to avoid tough passages; except we go book by chapter by verse at GraceLife and it would be obvious. Have you ever experienced anxiety over God’s Kingdom in one of these...

I have a confession to make. It centers around the Rubik’s Cube. I have never solved it, never even close. I have however pealed the stickers off, then later discovered how to take it apart and assemble it solved. To this day It has just never clicked with me, the secret to solve it, and probably never will… I have given up. But have you ever had one of those moments in your life when a mystery wa...

Family can be a blessing from God. Healthy families can be crucial to our development, happiness, and effectiveness. Family creates very strong bonds, connections, and some (but not all) of our most important relationships. How we interact with family certainly is an important priority for everyone, scripture teaches us that. BUT IF ANYONE DOES NOT PROVIDE FOR HIS RELATIVES, AND ESPECIALLY FOR MEM...

Mark 3:13-19 is the story of selecting of the remaining 12 apostles and then what seems to be a totally unrelated passage, Mark moves to another confrontation with the religious that ends with this thing called the “Unpardonable Sin.” When you hear about this passage, what is your initial reaction? Do you see it as a somber, dark warning? Do your ears really perk up, so you can have good informati...

Studying this passage this week, I kept picturing the massive crowd on shore & Jesus with His disciples in the boat. It made me ponder this possibility: Is there a difference between following Jesus and really knowing Jesus? What if following Jesus is the easy part, the part that everyone can be good at? Is it possible that what some of us are doing today with Jesus might just “miss the boat”? Wha...

Today we are going to take a deeper dive into exactly what the Sabbath means for Christians. There are many opinions in Christian circles about the Sabbath and how it relates to Sundays. There are several cult-like offshoots of Christianity that teach all the rules of the sabbath still apply (7th Day Adventists), which later spawned cult groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc. What is the Sabbath? W...

Week 11 in our series on the Gospel of Mark, Worship Director Megan Mooney discusses the sabbath, and how Jesus challenges conventional thinking about religions rules.

What is fasting? It seems people think fasting is a good thing, something every Christian should consider doing. later. One day I am gonna fast! But just like with exercise, its somewhat of a love hate relationship we have with fasting. Me personally? shhh… I hate fasting. It’s a step above putting cigs out on your own arm. Fasting has been assigned a spiritual mystery, but I don’t know what it is...

The political mood in our country is very divided. In many ways, it’s right down the middle. It’s hard to find common ground that everyone can agree on, but I think the one place that all of us agree on and are in sweet unison and peace on is the subject of taxes. All of us love to pay taxes. Income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, taxes, taxes, taxes! Just saying the word is fun right? You lik...

A Christmas story told by Pastor Joe at our Christmas Eve service, 2019

Imagine being alive during the time of Jesus, and having the chance to meet him face to face. What would be your motivation to go see Jesus?  Hear a sermon, get healed? What? How far would you travel? How much trouble would you go through? What would you hope for in terms of results? What would you hope to get out of that meeting? How many people were left satisfied and how many were disappointed?...

On a scale of 1-10, just how dirty would you say you are? How desperate is your need to be cleansed? How often have you been disobedient to the commands in God’s Word? How many promises to Him or to others have you broken? Man is constantly trying to bridge the gap between being cleansed and being filthy. We turn to religion, politics, philosophy, philanthropy to bridge the gap between being clean...

It seems the things people are most interested in about Jesus are the miracles of healing. Nothing gets people excited about Jesus like a good ole’ fashioned miracle, especially ones like today’s passage. But why did Jesus heal people, sometimes in massive amounts? Was it just out of pure love for the sick? Is it possible we have gotten the healing thing all wrong, that when God heals it isn’t for...

Have you ever experienced that feeling something is evil? Evil is not a topic that we like to talk about too much in church. Our first reaction is to dismiss it or explain it away. Are you uncomfortable talking about evil? Especially in church service? Are some of you cringing already? You know it exist, but really, many of you don’t take it too seriously, it’s something “out there”, not “in here....

Personal question, how willing are you really to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God? The phrase “Kingdom of God” is a familiar one to most Christians, and a central theological teaching of Christ himself. It’s a powerful concept that has inspired many literary, musical, and artistic works throughout the life of the church. But what does it really mean.  Do we believe its true? How do we describe i...

Have you ever had a mentor? Someone who taught you, guided you through an area or life skill? It could be a pastor, a recovery sponsor, a professional mentor, a coach, or a teacher. Their impact on our lives can be far reaching and dramatic, reshaping our values, direction, our purpose. It's why we develop such affection for mentors, and speak so highly of them, why mentor is often an affectionate...

There is something creepy about the wilderness. The barrenness, the vast space, the unknown, the harsh conditions. It is not the National Geographic version of the wilderness. People die in the wilderness; it can be frightening. The wilderness can be a place of physical and emotional discomfort, a place where plans go awry and it can be a place of isolation, heartbreak, pain, desperation, but it i...

The thing that makes social media so effective is that you can scroll for about 5 minutes and process about 50 posts. The information is in bite sized pieces. If you want to dive deeper, you can. It comes at you fast and quick. Through words, pictures, or video you get the gist of many stories. It is designed for today’s fast paced life. As I was preparing for our new series on the Gospel of Mark,...

A sermon that teaches why GraceLife Sarasota teaches the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, instead of topical sermons.

It’s been an amazing 27 week journey studying the life of Joseph—walking with him, identifying with his struggles, and seeing our own families in his family. But none of the lessons we’ve learned in Egypt mean anything if life ends with Egypt. Because sooner or later… we all die in Egypt. Even if we absolutely crush surviving in Egypt—even if we navigate it with wisdom, courage, and faith—none of...

A couple of months ago, I spent a day in Washington, DC. The whole city is basically a collection of symbols—monuments, memorials, marble buildings—each one designed to remind us of important people and moments in American history. Some of them are stirring and inspiring. Some are puzzling and forgettable. They represent every category you can imagine—military, ethnic, political, religious, region...