GraceLife Sarasota

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as it's own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - John 15:18-19 Have you noticed the world seems to hate Christianity? Does this hostility towards Christianity frustrate you? Are you easily discouraged, or en...

Do you know what these are? Call it what it is. Ugly. Just look at them! This “art” is at best “questionable!” Everything is out of proportion. They are stick figures. Coloring outside the lines. Some don’t even resemble anything! But someone somewhere thought they were precious enough to take a picture and put it on the world wide web! These are obviously posted by people who love the kids who ma...

Do you know what these are? Call it what it is. Ugly. Just look at them! This “art” is at best “questionable!” Everything is out of proportion. They are stick figures. Coloring outside the lines. Some don’t even resemble anything! But someone somewhere thought they were precious enough to take a picture and put it on the world wide web! These are obviously posted by people who love the kids who ma...

(DEUTERONOMY 27:4-8) When you’ve crossed over the Jordan, use these stones & some plaster to build an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord your God. Don’t use tools, build it with your hands! You shall offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God, make peace offerings, & have a feast there. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write on the stones all the words of the Law.

God often uses our desperation to showcase his glory & power.

"All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." - Matthew 5:37

What kind of church would GraceLife be if everyone was like Ganon or Chris? Stunning, good-looking, great personality? Would our church be bigger, and more appealing? Would more people be drawn to Mt Lockwood Ridge? Listen, people like Chris, Gannon & myself, we are so tired of carrying that burden of being who everyone loves. Obviously, joking about Chris, But seriously, have you ever thought abo...

Raise your hand if you have ever made an unwise, foolish, or just downright sinful decision. Have you experienced earthly consequences from those choices so severe that you felt there was no way back? Have you ever wrestled with the potential earthly, spiritual, and eternal impact your own free will has had on others? When we make bad choices, can our choices disrupt God’s plan of salvation not ju...

How many of you have ever played chess? What are the two most important pieces on the board? The King & Queen. These two pieces are all-important; everything centers around them, and where they are dictates the flow of the game. These two pieces on the chessboard are controlled by the players, who move, direct, & use them for their own strategies. But outside the game, off the chessboard, they are...

Have you ever felt like God was missing? You believe in God, you have faith, but you can’t see Him in your situation? We have faith, but we can’t help the fact that we feel this way as if God has gone silent & He’s nowhere to be found. We’ve all been there. We’ve been perplexed, suffering, frightened, in pain, and maybe even devastated by loss & pain. It’s one of those moments in life you just can...

Before we begin our new series in Esther, I wanted to take a week to talk about GraceLife’s stance God’s Word. With so many new faces, I think it’s important to take one week to explain why we do what we do here. A biblical church is characterized by unwavering confidence and trust in the Bible as the ultimate source of truth. A biblical church, which there are several in Sarasota, believes God’s...

Look at the person next to you. Imagine for a moment you saw real signs this person was clearly drifting from God. Maybe you became aware of obvious signs of sin or immorality. Maybe gathering with us had become sporadic. If it's someone in recovery, perhaps you are seeing evidence their recovery is shaky or wobbly. Maybe you have witnessed very inappropriate conversations or relationships with me...

Do you know people who just seem to have a special gift and commitment to pray for other people? If you’re like most of us, like me, several names quickly come to mind, and one of them isn’t your own! These are people we turn to, because it just seems they take prayer seriously. Their prayers seem to have power. They always seem to be much more interested in praying for others before they pray for...

In the mid 90’s as a Youth Pastor in Columbia SC. Every week, our staff met other local SBC pastors for lunch. - I remember one week this passage came up and one of the guys asked what we thought James meant by it. There was a retired pastor, about 85, who would preach for many of the others when they went on vacation. He was sage, beloved, full of wisdom. Whenever he started to speak all the othe...

Have you ever wondered if your faith is strong enough to endure real persecution & suffering because you follow Jesus? I’m not talking your garden variety 1st world American “bad day”, I’m talking about real suffering. Do you have what it takes to be faithful to Jesus no matter what circumstances life might visit upon you? Have you ever come to a place where you just weren’t sure that your faith w...

I want to start off today with a warning to any & all the KC chiefs fans out there who may hear this sermon. Something’s been bothering me. I've had enough of your constant bragging about Patrick Mahomes & all your winning. This is a firm warning to all of you, to tone it down, and depart from your arrogance before it’s too late. You always boast about how good your quarterback is, and your Super...

"Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" - Psalm 90:12 Even though Moses tells us to number days. We get comfortable, coast, and we assume our lives will be long, full, & lasting. But really, even a long life is short, maybe 70 years, more if we’re lucky. Many lives are much shorter than that. We don’t have an endless supply of days. Our lives are a vapor. Often, when we mak...

Has someone ever unfairly judged, slandered, or gossiped about you? How did that make you feel? I remember as a member of a church staff being publicly slandered with false accusations. It was devastating for me and my family in ways you can’t even imagine. To this day I still carry baggage from it. Even when someone slanders or gossips about something you actually did wrong, it’s still painful, a...

Have you ever felt like you are going the wrong direction in life, like you’re on a road you aren’t supposed to be on? As followers of Jesus, this is what it feels like, what happens, when we put too much hope in earthly things. When we’ve let our passion for earthy things become our primary desire, our primary hopes. Throughout the Bible, we’re warned that earthly hope always overpromises, and wi...

Last week was a hard sermon, as James taught us to look within ourselves for the cause of fights within the church. Our selfish, individualistic, arrogant pursuit of our own desires & passions put us at odds with each other, and with God. It was a tough message, but James provided a beautiful, soft landing, reminding us that God gives MORE GRACE! Have you ever experienced the joy, the liberation t...

Have you ever witnessed, or been part of a fight in church? Maybe not fists, but words? I’ve seen church fights over some pretty crazy things, sometimes over little things, and other times big things. I’ve seen church fights over what version of the Bible should be preached from, even what time the service should start. I’ve seen church fights, people even leaving a church family because it wasn’t...

Wisdom is the guiding force, directing our decisions. The kind of wisdom we embrace determines the choices we make. In its simplest form, there are only 2 kinds of wisdom. There’s earthly wisdom and there’s Heavenly wisdom. Earthly wisdom starts off ok. It's alluring, promising, satisfying. Even people in churches are drawn to earthly wisdom. But earthly wisdom’s cunning is inspired by our own sel...

Can you remember the most hurtful things people have ever said to you? I can quote them perfectly. I remember many, where I was, who said it, their exact words, and how I felt, decades later I can remember every detail. Some of these things were 20, 30, 40 years ago. Isn’t it amazing how easily we can remember these things? I am 56 years old, and some of these moments still run around like ghosts...

A few weeks ago, I highlighted some popular spiritual phrases that are cheap, pointless, and powerless. Phrases like “follow your heart”, find inner peace, sending positive vibes, adjust your okra… I mean Chakra, etc. These are non-biblical phrases spoken by those who think they’re spiritual but are powerless & useless. But Christians also have phrases that are useless when there’s no action behin...

I find it painful and embarrassing when my own hypocrisy is exposed. Yet, there's a part of me that takes a peculiar satisfaction in identifying hypocrisy in others. Especially the hypocrisy of those who have accused me of hypocrisy. I am very good at spotting your hypocrisy. In fact, as a good pastor should... I keep a spreadsheet. Now of course you might ask, where does Pastor Joe end up on this...