GraceLife Sarasota

Who gets to decide what is good and what is evil? Who has the authority to declare what is righteous and what is sin? If there is a God, why does He have the right to judge us? These are intense philosophical, deeply personal questions. In today’s world, people will try anything to explain away God’s right to judge, while inserting themselves in His place. Some hide behind religious heritage. Othe...

Have you ever noticed that we church people tend to be blind to our own spiritual deficiencies? Even at GraceLife where we want to love one another, we’re constantly judging each other without even realizing it. Confident in our own superiority, we pass moral, cultural, and political judgment on others without hesitation. We gossip, lash out with passive aggression, and unleash self-righteous soci...

How do you think God looks at your spiritual life right now? Do you have confidence because you assume you’re doing better than others? I mean nobody’s perfect, but you’re certainly doing better than someone like, Randy, or Scotty right? Imagine you’re sitting in the back of a packed courtroom with a despicable criminal on trial for despicable crimes. The prosecutor has just finished his airtight...

Today we’re talking about a topic you’ve probably heard before at GraceLife called Human Depravity. I know, Fun right? Depravity is about how sin has polluted every part of your life. That is a harsh reality, but it’s also beautiful in this way. Because without understanding this truth, you will never grasp your desperate, urgent need for the Gospel. You will never be able to grasp why God had to...

I’ve wrestled with how to approach Romans. Because it’s a long, tough book with so much packed in it. Instead of dissecting every phrase we’ll approach it how Paul’s readers would have, in community, in larger sections. Because Romans wasn’t just for theological geeks. It was for everyone. But I’m nervous. Let me tell you why. Have you ever had to have a hard conversation with someone you love tha...

Why do we celebrate birthdays, weddings, promotions, or other milestones? Is it because we see them as turning points that provide some kind of hope in the midst of ordinary life? Maybe it’s just tradition, or an excuse to gather and indulge in unhealthy foods we otherwise wouldn’t eat? But how often do we celebrate our redemption, and acknowledge how God’s grace has turned our despair into hope?...

Have you ever been in a situation where you desperately needed someone to step up for you—but no one did? How did it feel to be left standing alone, knowing that there is no one willing to come to your defense? Maybe you let people down so often they’ve stopped believing in you, or the cost of standing w/you is just too high. Maybe you looked around so ordinary and felt so unseen that no one notic...

What is loyalty? Why is it a virtue? Is loyalty always a good thing? What if you’re loyal to the wrong person or thing? If someone asked you, “How loyal are you to Jesus, His Kingdom, and His people, what would you answer?” What does real loyalty to God and His people look like? How can we know it when we see it? Does it come with a cost? These are all questions that pierce deep if we’re willing t...

One day, as Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind beggar on the roadside, heard Jesus was passing close by. Immediately, he began crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! His boldness offended everyone around him. They rebuked him. You’re rude! Leave Jesus alone! Be quiet, shut up! His bold desperation was seen by others as inappropriate, but he wouldn’t be silenced. He cried out even...

How often do we overlook God’s ordinary blessings right in front of us? Have they become boring, familiar, unnoticed? In a world obsessed with spectacle, have Christians also become so fixated on miracles, breakthroughs, and grand gestures that we forget how to recognize God’s quiet, powerful presence in the fabric of everyday ordinary life? What if our thirst for the spectacular has dulled our se...

Do you ever drift, feel disconnected from your church family or isolated by something you can’t quite identify? What’s the root cause of division between people in the church? How do we nurture unity and keep it thriving? We claim to value in unity, but do our lives and our relationships with each other in this room reflect that? Are we protecting unity, or is it being compromised by entitlement &...

"When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God wil...

Have you ever hated your job, felt it wasn’t appreciated like you deserved a better job than the one you have? Maybe your work makes you feel unappreciated, underpaid, or that somehow the job you have is beneath you. I think that comes from how the world has determined there are “important” jobs, and then “ordinary” jobs. We fail to see the importance of our work in the “everyday grind”, feeling l...

Have you ever felt the need to go back somewhere, but dreaded what you might face when you arrive? Maybe you wonder how much you've changed, or if anyone will even notice. It’s been a long time, and coming home isn’t easy, especially when the choice to leave was your own. Will people see your return as a sign of failure? Will you feel like a stranger in the place you once belonged? The fear of bei...

Do you ever wonder if your life carries any real weight? If you died tomorrow, what would your legacy be? Do you wrestle with guilt, feeling like you’re falling short? Or like you’re ordinary and insignificant? Maybe you doubt your impact in God’s Kingdom or feel like you’ve disappointed Him, or your life is too small to matter. These feelings can make us resent the mundane, feeling stuck in the r...

Life has a way of hitting hard. It has a way of creating defining moments that force decisions we don’t want to make. I am not talking about easy choices, like the one I make almost every day… do I swirl my froyo flavors or not? I am talking about inflection points when circumstances put you at a crossroads between faith and doubt. When things fall apart, where do you turn? Do you rely on your own...

In the last several weeks different people in our church have lost everything in one of 3 different storms. Do you remember what life was like before Hurricane Debbie wrecked so many lives a couple of months ago? What about those among us who lost everything during Hurricane Helene. That experience was life-changing for you. Do you remember the anxiety earlier this week as we watched weather repor...

You know our country is deeply polarized, & everyone on all sides, including you, has an opinion about who’s to blame. Could one of the big reasons be the redeemed’ s disobedience, & lack of faith that God is in control? How does it affect our community when the redeemed lack trust & confidence that God is sovereign & in control? -Instead of being the light of the world, we often become just anoth...

Have you ever noticed how easily we remember the traumatizing events in our lives, big and small? We never forget! We all have trauma, even those of us who think we don’t, are impacted by it in daily life more than you realize. They’re called core memories that cling to us, spring up without warning, they frame how we see life. These memories can breed bitterness, strain relationships, & foster a...

It was the summer of 1991 at the outdoor basketball courts at USF. Pastor Joe, 23 years old, was playing pickup with college players while a crowd watched from the bleachers. It was like that Ski-Lo song, “I wish I was a little bit taller…”—everyone came to see their guy dominate the game. This may surprise you, but I was by far the shortest and slowest person on the court. It wasn’t even close. T...

Isn’t it fun to be the one announcing good news? To see the thrill in someone’s face because of news you shared? When was the last time you had the privilege of sharing amazing news with someone who wasn’t expecting it? How did you feel when you saw their joy, the relief, the spark of hope in someone’s eyes as they received it? Good news can be so powerful! It can lift burdens, renew hope, even ch...

Have you ever looked at the world around you and wondered, why does evil seem to be winning? Hypocrisy, injustice, corruption, doesn’t it seem like darkness is constantly gaining ground & closing in around us? We’re confronted daily w/what seems like the wicked prospering while the righteous suffer. There’s a psalm for that: (Psalm 73:3,12-14) For I was envious of the prosperity of the proud and w...

Don’t you love it when your plans or strategies come together? Especially when the outcome is super important? It's very rewarding! You feel intelligent, in control, powerful! It confirms your high opinion of your wisdom & foresight! Even our selfish, ambitious, lustful, unrighteous plans that hurt others provide this intoxicating illusion of control. While it’s good to strategize and plan, we mus...

"Reverence & awe for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. For by me, your days will be multiplied, and years added to your life." - Proverbs 9:10-11 Do you know people who seem prone to making unwise choices? Have you ever felt like you might be one of them? Why do people make the same silly mistakes repeatedly? While others seem to be able to learn fr...

Have you ever been so distraught, anxious, distressed and distracted you couldn’t eat or sleep? Maybe you were worried about your bills or you lost your job, or a huge costly catastrophe that came upon you. Maybe it was a legal decision from the judge, a medical diagnosis from your doctor, or other potential, looming bad news. Maybe it was just immense grief and sorrow over losing someone you love...