Messages

This week we continue discovering the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. The story of Mary reflects her heart of humility as she responds to the word of God, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word be fulfilled.” Who from us would be able to respond to God’s word in this way? Together, we will learn from Mary’s song about overcoming difficulties and trials.

This week we will hear the angel Gabriel proclaim the birth of Jesus to Mary. Let us be strengthened in our faith to humbly obey the word of God like Mary who says, “Behold, the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.”

When you worry about tomorrow it robs you of the joys of today. Joy and worry cannot coexist! The Kingdom of this world finds unrighteousness, strife and worries but the Kingdom of God puts God first in our lives. We do not need to pursue worry when we believe God will provide for us.

Together, we’ll hear from Pastor Cloud about giving of our First Fruits and God’s heart behind our offering.

How do we, and how do you, remain in Christ and his love so that you do not lose your first love? It is not through doing good works or sacrifice, but it is through hearing God’s word and being lead to transformation. We return to our first love by hearing God’s word in community.

You are not only God’s child, but you are His firstborn child! In the Kingdom of God, every one of us is firstborn, special and privileged. We each have the opportunity to receive the full benefits and blessings of being firstborn because of Jesus.

When God calls you to surrender, does that sound sweet or scary? Surrender and giving up something can be scary, but not when you are giving it up for something better. When you are surrendering to get something better, it is a joy. This is what the Kingdom of God is like. It is a joy, sweet, well worth it to surrender all that we have for it.

The words we speak are powerful! Our words have the ability to help us transition and live in the right belief. Through looking at the influence of our words, we can see that religion wants us to move from repentance to self-condemnation. However, the Kingdom guides us from a place of speaking repentance to receiving sonship.

Our lives are influenced by the spirit we carry and choosing an attitude of sweetness and gratefulness will create an impact far greater than what we anticipate. Together, we’ll learn how to cultivate a sweet spirit and an attitude that advances the Kingdom of God.

Knowing God is to experience God. No one else can do it for you. You will never realize how good it is except by tasting it yourself. But when you have tasted, you will see. Because of Jesus, God turns the bitterness caused by the devil into the sweetest blessings in our life. Come, taste and see that the Lord is good!

How do we develop worthwhile and meaningful friendships? Jesus modelled a life of loving kindness in his relationships while living in a constant community. From him, we learn the value and benefit of cultivating sweet friendship in our lives.

We belong to each other. God designed us to be dependent on Him and to be interdependent of each other as we’re part of the body of Christ. We find our meaning as we relate to the body and together we’re transformed to be more like Jesus.

When we commit to follow Jesus, it changes our lives and the reason why we live. Belonging to Christ is more than living as a son or a daughter – it’s freely choosing to surrender our lives to His will.

Being willing to forgive, ask for forgiveness, love unconditionally and compromise helps to build strong relationships in our lives. When we apply the message of belonging to our spouse, we are practicing and displaying God’s covenant here on earth.

To belong to a community means more than simply showing up, it means becoming “co-owners.” God never intended for us to live life alone, and together we create a place for people to belong.

Christ is the healer of the nations. This week we will learn how He breaks people free from bondage and gives them freedom in Him.

Jesus has triumphed over every demonic power at the cross. The power of this triumph is within every believer. Those who are born of God can overcome the enemy because we have a living God who has given us His living word which produces active faith. Victory did not end up on the cross but continues today.

The cross reveals to us the person and the power of God. It is not only where our sin is paid for, where the devil is conquered, but where the Kingdom of God is established. Jesus Christ bore your sin on the cross, but you must take Him up on the offer.

In the Gospels, Jesus was moved by compassion because of the needs that He saw. He wants our partnership and involvement in healing the needy in our world. However, to advance the Kingdom of God through healing others, we need to be a people of compassion.

Healing is in God’s nature and it’s is the external picture of the Kingdom message of salvation. By looking at the Old Testament and New Testament teachings on healing, we can learn the powerful healing that Jesus provides.

Every time Jesus claims His divinity, He is confronted by anger, hostility and rejection: they picked up stones wanting to stone Him. Those who reject that Jesus is God want to stone Him, but those who receive that Jesus is God will enthrone Him. This week, we’ll learn what it means to enthrone Jesus instead of stone Him.

David teaches us that we can defeat any giant through the power of God and when we put our trust in Jesus. On this occasion, David articulates a basic principle of faith: God will act on our behalf when we trust in Him.

There are two different voices that speak to and through us; the voice of a critic or the voice of Christ. The voice of a critic condemns, criticizes and destroys resulting in death. In contrast, the voice of Christ confronts our sin with compassion and provides deliverance resulting in life. Casting judgement on others and choosing the voice of the critic may be easy, but in John 8 we see how Jes...

Compassion leads us to action, to seek out the lost, and to tell the good news. If we are created in the image of the Father, we have the element of compassion in us even if we may think we do not. The harvest is ready, it’s time to go!