Greater Life Church

God is everywhere. He is present in the future. He is in the past. He is on the right. He is on the left. He is above and below. He is everywhere. That concept has often been used to portray God as sitting in judgement waiting for us to mess up so he could strike us with lightning. That is not the God we serve. God is also portrayed as being distant and removed. We pray is if we are trying to get...

In scripture, life is likened to many things. Paul speaks of it as a contest or a race. Perhaps the best description of life is a battle. There are forces that come against us every day because we have chosen to live for God. If we had not made that decision, the devil would not need to come against us. When we make up our mind that we will server God, we will find daily battles that have eternal...

Life is unpredictable. About the time we think we have life figured out, something happens that changes the course. Like on the sea, we can be sailing along and all is well. Then a storm can come on us unexpectedly. Some storms pass quickly, while others last for a long while. The unpredictable nature of a storm and what it can bring into our life is unsettling. Often we know what to do, but in th...

The word Judah means praise. In our text, the women were going back to the physical land of Judah, but we can easily say that they were going back to a place of praise and restoration. They were defeated, but that was not the end of their story. They took the road that took them to Judah. Naomi obviously had some resentment and disappointment about her situation. When we are hurting and wounded it...

We have all seen pictures that at first glance appear to be one thing, but when viewed from a different perspective, appear to be something completely different. Two people can be looking at the same picture and see completely different things. The internet was recently at odds over a dress. The way we see the world is dependent upon our position and our experience. If we had a map of San Diego an...

The Hebrew word for wisdom came from the root word skill. Our text admonishes us to walk in wisdom. The word used means to walk observantly. If we do not walk in wisdom, we walk in foolishness. When we follow God, we walk in wisdom. We must be careful to continue that walk and not revert to our former foolish ways. The world will try it's best to stray from that wisdom. Wisdom always chooses God's...

The story of easter is more than just a historical fact. it is a celebration of life and of truth. It is a celebration of a belief in life. What life means to each of us is because of what happened long ago on Calvary. The fact that He came, died, and rose again has changed the way we look at life forever. The greatest words ever spoken are contained in our passage: He is not here, He is risen. Th...

Our text paints a wonderful picture. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The bible tells us that the entire city turned out. It is estimated that there were about 2.5 million people in the city that day praising and worshiping Jesus. Just a few days later we find Jesus alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. What a difference a few days can make. On Sunday they are applauding Him; on Wednesday, they d...

Life can sometimes get stuck. We can get stuck in places. We can get stuck in issues. We can get stuck in hurts. We can get stuck in problems. We can get stuck in familiar places. Perhaps a failure, a mistake or a fear. Somehow we get locked into that place. We can become stuck in our spiritual journey too. Israel had become stuck for a long time. Some historians think that it may have been as muc...

The four words: in the beginning God seem simple, but represent one of the greatest utterances ever spoken. The story of beginning was not an end, but a example of what God was capable of. There is much debate about how the universe was actually made. Whenever it happened; what ever the time frame; God was there. God was at the center of it and the source of it all. What we read in Genesis 2 is no...

The Greeks coming to Jesus and their requests to see Him triggered a foreshadowing of what was to come. He begins to feel the burden of the cross. Jesus uses the kernel of corn to illustrate that it is only when we die that we can know the increase that God has for us. John chapter 12 is Gethsemane before Gethsemane. Here was a transition in Jesus' life and ministry. From the Glory of the life He...

Our texts are three different accounts of the same scene in Jesus’ life. At this time in His life, Jesus was constantly bombarded with questions and accusations that He was not doing things in the way that religious traditions were done. In that setting, Jesus spoke to them about the new and the old. The point is not that the old is not important, but rather he was saying that there comes a time i...

There is so much about life that we are hard pressed to understand. There are answers that we so desperately desire to have, but God chooses not so share with us. We are called to live life with a certain amount of mystery. Faith is so importanat in the life of one who possesses it. Faith is more than an emotion; it is a spirit and attitude that we adopt in life. Paul said that he was confident th...

The word selah appears 74 times in the Hebrew scripture. It is one of the most interesting terms in the bible. Most often it comes at the end of a verse. There are three exceptions, one if which occurs in our text, where it appears in the middle of a line. It comes out of the musical world. It implies several things. most importantly it implies an end of some part of the music or chorus. It's root...

People who are said to be failures are judged harshly in our world. Our text is the recoding of a man who failed. If we look back at the totality of his life, he was not the stereotype of a failure. There were many things about this man that were admirable, but in this one instance he failed in his duty. The subject of our story was given charge to guard a prisoner who escaped. He was not overpowe...

Life is a battle field. We will not live without battles and struggles. Often times those battles will come to spoil our hopes and frustrate our future. None of these battles are so subtle and destructive as the enemy mentioned in our text today. Naaman is a man who belongs in a class all his own. He was a brave and courageous man. He was a wise and successful leader. He was a commander and been g...

Life is perplexing. Sometimes we know that we need to talk to God, but we don't even know where to start. We are all traveling down a road that is unknown. No matter how far we have traveled, the path ahead is filled with unknowns. There are some things in life that are troubling, but the uncertainties cause us the most problem. The unknown creates tension and frustration in life. Often, the unkno...

It has been said that our prayers are not answered not when we have received what we have ask, but when we are challenged to be what we can be. Jesus grew up in a carpenter's shop. One of the things about wood working is how much can be hidden in a piece of wood. There is much hidden in a piece, and that it takes a lot of work and effort to transform a common piece of wood into something beautiful...

Paul's explanation of the Lord's supper is significant not only of the rites of a ceremony, but for our remembrance of the meaning of the taking of communion. We must remember that our salvation was paid at a great price. We must never forget the price of redeeming our life. He paid a price for our salvation and in so doing, He place a value on our life. By doing what He did, He revealed the magni...

We have all experienced the excitement of opening presents on Christmas morning only to find that the most sought after present requires batteries that are not included. In our text, there are people looking for answers. Jesus told them to go and wait in Jereulisum and He would send them a gift. The Holy Ghost began to fall on people there, and onlookers ask what must we do to receive this? They c...

There is nothing that is harder to understand than life. Getting through today and dealing with tomorrow is challenging. Just when we think life is going up, it twists and goes down. When we think it is falling apart, everything seems to come together. None of us upon looking back over our life would predict the path that it has taken. Things come along that we do not expect. Some of the greatest...

Out first text we have the first set of siblings in all of creation. Both brothers had brought offerings to the Lord, but God accepted the offering from Able, but not for Cain. When this happened, Cain became angry and slew his brother. The bible tells us that the blood of Able screamed out from the ground. This is because it was innocent blood. The bible explains in Deuteronomy the process that w...

In most things in line almost is not good enough. We can go to many things, but unless we go through it, we have not accomplished anything. If a runner running the race does not cross the finish line, he has not accomplished anything. Sometimes God leads us to it, and we must rely on Him to lead us through it. There may be an obstacle in our path, but God has brought us to something to see us thro...

In biblical times the Jews had little to do with the Sumerians. There was a seething animosity that had existed for many years before Christ came. It happened that the quickest way to get from Judea to Samaria, or to Galilee, was through Samaria. It would take about three days that way, or twice as long to go another way. In our text, Jesus was traveling through Samaria to Galilee. Many, including...

Very seldom do we get to live life in ideal circumstances. The way we imagined life is rarely the way it plays out. No one who is an alcoholic or a drug addict set out to become that. We find that things in life break,a nd usually they break at the most inopportune time. At those times, we have a choice. Do we quit. Do we join the list of complainers who sit in their situations and do nothing but...