Griggs Church Sermons

"In the world you will have tribulation; But be of Good cheer! I have overcome the world."  - Jesus

What is hope? Do we have hope? Or are we just making wishes? 

After Paul's arrest he preaches from the steps of the prison. Everyone is quiet and listening until he hits one word - gentiles. The crowd is uncomfortable hearing that Jesus loves the gentiles just as much as themselves. They have prejudice. Do we? 

The second leadership value we hold to here at Griggs is optimistic faith. When you're leading, things aren't always clear. When things aren't clear you could embrace a pessimistic attitude saying, "Why try? Probably won't go well" or an optimistic attitude saying, "Let's give it our best shot and see what Jesus does." We hope to be leaders with an attitude of optimistic faith. 

Ever since Genesis 3 we have been in a war of wills. God's perfect will is no longer our only desire. We now have our own, sinful will. Our enemy has a will. Sometimes all of these conflict. Jesus, in his grace gives us a new heart that bends towards his will. We see all of this play out in a unique way in Acts 21 as Paul goes back to Jerusalem one last time. 

Jesus was the greatest leader to ever live. He had the greatest leadership style in human history. One aspect of that leadership is that it was based on relationship. 

Ever since Genesis 3 we have been in a war of wills. God's perfect will is no longer our only desire. We now have our own, sinful will. Our enemy has a will. Sometimes all of these conflict. Jesus, in his grace gives us a new heart that bends towards his will. We see all of this play out in a unique way in Acts 21 as Paul heads towards Jerusalem at the end of his 3rd missionary journey. 

We're all building our lives on someone's teaching. Our experiences, hearts, and others teach us one thing and Jesus teaches us another.  Jesus says the wise man will follow His teachings and gain internal stability ("his house will be built on the rock.") The Foolish man, however, will pick someone else's teaching and when the rains come, the floods rise, and the winds blow, his identity and...

Jesus had a lot to say about our eyes. Jesus taught that our eyes were gateways to our mind and heart, our entire internal world. Thus, it's really important to guard our eyes for his glory and our own joy. 

Does the Bible teach we can lose our salvation? Many people who think so point to this passage in Hebrews. Pastor Daniel , preaching through Hebrews, covers the different positions on the topic and draws a conclusion you may not expect.

Whether we realize it or not, we're wrestling against spiritual darkness. We know Jesus will win in the end, but how does he help us win today? In this sermon we join Paul in Ephesus as he faces some serious spiritual warfare. This story, which is a series of three or four shorter stories, puts Jesus' way of leading us to victory on display. 

Jesus teaches anxious people a new way of thinking. He tells his followers not to buy into their "What ifs" and fears but rather to buy into the kingdom of God. If we're bought into the kingdom of God, tomorrow has a way of taking care of itself. 

Because Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, we know that He is able to understand and have compassion on our suffering. The fact that He is greater than any human high priest because He is also our eternal king, provides comfort—the all-knowing, all- consuming Creator God cares for us individually by becoming our source of eternal salvation.

We've talked a lot about living on mission amongst those with no gospel but what about living on mission amongst those with an incomplete gospel?  This week Aquila, Pricilla, and Paul bump into disciples of John the Baptist who do not yet know the complete gospel. The Apostle and his friends fill in the blanks for them and the disciples of John become disciples of Jesus. 

By the time Paul comes into Corinth he's exhausted emotionally and physically. Have you ever been there? Are you there right now? What do you do?  Paul, in Acts 18, gives us a good example of what to do. He accepts help, he takes a break, he knows when to move on, and clings to God's promises. We should do the same but it's going to take humility and trust. Listen to this message for more ins...

Paul is in Athens and he's stirred up because of all of the idols he sees. He preaches the gospel in the market place and then in the Areopagus. He uses a few lines from their own poets to challenge their philosophy and lead some of them to Christ.  Christians are to care about the culture, engage the culture and, sometimes, even use culture to share the message of Jesus. From art, to music,...

Jesus taught us dozens of lessons on prayer in about 5 verses called "The Lord's Prayer."   This prayer has become the most famous prayer on the planet, being recited by some denominations every Sunday.  But how do the truths of these famous requests such as, "give us this day our daily bread" play out for us in 2019?  That's what we try to find out in this message.  www.griggs...

Do we want God no matter who he is? Or do we want our idea of God no matter who he is? The Bereans wanted God. Thus, when someone started talking about him they listened to learn and searched for truth. Luke, the writer of Acts, calls this Noble. We too want to be Noble.  So instead of always being the teacher, let's be teachable. Instead of trusting our ideas, let's search the scriptures. In...

In Thessalonica the apostle follow Jesus' approach to ministry and get Jesus' results. They turn the world upside down.  Like Jesus, everything the Apostles taught was almost the opposite of what the culture was teaching.  They taught the first would be last and last would be first. That salvation was for repentant sinners not the self-righteous. They taught that to find your life, you m...

Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than Joshua. But let's make sure that these statements don't become dull to us and that we hear them without actually hearing them. For those with ears to hear, there will be an eternal rest. For those who won't hear, there's no rest at all. 

Do the first 5 books of the Old Testament and the first 4 books of the New Testament contradict each other? Did Jesus destroy the law? What do we need to know about about law as followers of Jesus? Let's answers that question by studying what Jesus said about the Law in his Sermon on the Mount.  Let us know how we can have your back at www.griggschurch.com

World history could be summed up as follows:  1) Jesus' power on display  2) Jesus' power challenged  3) Jesus' power turns the tables on the challenger  4) Jesus' power to save the challenger  And if you look closely, you may see your own life summed up in there too.

Who is the Holy Spirit? How does he work? Where does he guide us? As Paul and Silas head out on the second missionary journey, we see the Spirit get to work through people and places for his purposes.  If you'd like to give to support Griggs you can do so at www.griggschurch.com/give Thanks for listening.