PASTOR ALAN LATTA

In the excitement and busyness of Christmas Holiday Celebrations, Pastor Alan reminds us in this 11 minute sermon to not lose sight of the real reason for this important season.

Having established in an earlier sermon, why we believe the Bible is true, Pastor Alan plainly declares what the Scriptures have to say about Jesus as the only way to eternal life.

In dealing with a very important question, this sermon brings hope to the true believers in Jesus Christ while bringing strong warnings to those who live hypocritical lifestyles.

In dealing with this difficult question, Pastor Alan shares the truth that we are not in Heaven yet. Meanwhile, there are 8 powerful truths - to remember from ROMANS 8 - that can empower us all to move forward toward God's predestined purpose.

Speaking from his heart, Pastor Alan shares 10 solid reasons why he believes the Bible is true. Seeking to answer an important question about the inspiration of the Scriptures, he leaves the hearer with his own question, "How do you know the Bible is not true?"

In Jesus' School of Leadership, everything begins with following Him, which leads to learning from Him and then to serving Him and His people, resulting in becoming a leader for others to follow.

In an effort to encourage and increase the number of encouragers at Generations Church, Pastor Alan exhorts the congregation to look for opportunities to give Godly encouragement and to follow the examples of Jesus, Barnabas, Paul, Tychicus and Timothy.

While drawing lessons from the promotion of Joshua, Pastor Alan challenges the congregation to serve courageously and to be willing to be promoted and take on more responsibility as God sends his blessing.

In preparation for The Alpha Course this sermon encourages the hearers to be more relational with unbelievers in their lifestyles. Because listening to people can make them more willing to hear us and because many will not care about how much we know until they know how much we care, it is imperative that we learn how to identify with unbelievers for effective evangelistic ministry.

Pastor Alan communicates the call to make more than converts and to preach more than life after death. Disciplemaking is what Jesus commissions as well as life transformation rather than life extension only.

From the words of Jesus when He commissioned his disciples to "be wise" as they go out to minister "in the midst of wolves", Pastor Alan strongly challenges Generations Church to be wise in evangelism, in being both relational and conversational, as well as not being unscriptural nor unreasonable.

This strong exhortation encourages the hearers to pursue knowing God with all their hearts, because we are all as close to God as we want to be. In addition to knowing God, Pastor Alan motivates the Generations congreation to reach out to make Him known to this generation and beyond.

Here at the end of a sermon series - which asked some very soul searching questions - comes an outward focused question, from this Letter of Jesus to the Messenger of the Church in Sardis. "Are You Alive?" preaches evangelism from the primary signs of life as well as a very important sign that a fiancee' is ready for marriage.

The Church in Thyatira had a lot of good going on but they were allowing a false minister to lead people into sin without confronting their error. In this sermon, Pastor Alan asks the question, "What evil are we allowing to have a place in our heart and mind that could lead us astray?" While confronting the true possibility of our harboring favorite sins, a call is given for repentance and account...

From the Letter of Jesus to the leadership of a local church in Pergamus, Pastor Alan Latta encourages the hearers to be aware of the sinful influences of the worldly culture around us. A relevant scriptural application to this sermon is found in ROMANS 12:2.

In honor of fathers who are trying to be good dads, including single parents who are raising up a godly generation alone, as well as those who are functioning as spiritual parents to children not their own, Pastor Alan brings words to encourage and exhort the Church to disciple the next generation successfully.

From the example of the congregation in Philadelphia, Turkey - we learn that the Lord can open doors of ministry for us, even in the middle of very difficult times. We learn here that having to persevere can qualify us for ministry.

Drawing lessons from Christ's letter to the messenger of a congregation - in Smyrna, Turkey - Pastor Alan declares the reality of spiritual battles and persecution. From the example of Polycarp's death we are all encouraged to trust God to give us the courage we need when we need it.

From the Jesus' Epistles in His Revelation, as penned by John, Jesus Christ praises the Ephesian Church before correcting their lack of first love for Him, i. e. their foremost devotion. In like manner, many modern believers have much to be praised for by the Lord, but if we lack passion for Him, we are in need of His correction.

While the church in Laodicea was not who they thought they were, a serious question is then asked of us, "Are we who we say we are?" With some personal insight, Pastor Alan calls the hearer to repent and return by putting God first everyday, to overcome becoming lukewarm.

This sermon involves the problems and solutions for overcoming the fear of what people might or might not think. Gaining victory over this malady involves our remembering that people are mortals, i. e. they are fallible and are going die, while our God is eternal and infallible. He is the only one to be feared and yet we know that He values us highly.

From the enlightening conversation Jesus had with Peter at the end of JOHN 21, the Word is declared concerning the encumbrances that come when we compare ourselves to one another, as well as how to overcome our being trapped by the "comparing game".

Fully appreciating why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is such good news involves our truly understanding the bad news, i. e. the fact that we are all natural born sinners with a death sentence hanging over our lives. Not only did Jesus die in our place to give us divine substitution but He also arose from the dead to give us divine justification.

While drawing more insights from the Discipling of Simon Peter, Pastor Alan shares from his own story while exhorting all people to become followers of Jesus, especially those who may have begun in the past but have gotten off track for any reason. The truth is in the fact that the call of Jesus has not changed for anyone who iwilling to follow Him again.

Drawing lessons from the Gospel of Matthew, on the discipleship journey of Simon Barjonah, whom Jesus named Peter, Pastor Alan declares the truth that is both wonderful and difficult concerning the transformation process the Christ begins in us as His disciples.